Study of slip activity in a Mg-Y alloy by in situ high energy X-ray diffraction microscopy and elastic viscoplastic self-consistent modeling

Slip activity from various slip modes largely determines the yield strength and ductility of Mg alloys. Solid solution elements in Mg can change the slip activity dramatically. In this paper, far-field high energy X-ray diffraction microscopy (FF-HEDM) is employed to study slip activity in a Mg-3wt%Y alloy during an in situ tensile experiment. The specimen was incrementally loaded up to 3% engineering strain along the rolling direction. At each load step, FF-HEDM data were collected to track the crystallographic orientation, center of mass, and stress tensor changes of nearly 1000 grains in the probed volume. By analyzing the change in orientation and stress tensor of individual grains at different load steps, it is possible to identify the activated slip systems and measure their critical resolved shear stress (CRSS) values. Prismatic slip and pyramidal I <a> slip are found to be very active in this alloy. The estimated CRSS values for basal slip, prismatic slip and pyramidal I <a> slip are 12 MPa, 38 MPa, and 36 MPa, respectively. These CRSS values were applied in a dislocation-based elastic viscoplastic self-consistent (EVPSC) model that successfully simulated the tensile stress-strain curve from the FF-HEDM experiment. The model also qualitatively predicted the crystal rotation in most of the selected grains, though it underestimated the internal stress and the magnitude of crystal rotation in these grains. Influence of solute Y on the strength and ductility of Mg alloys is discussed. (C) 2018 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.