Recycling of AZ31 Mg alloy with high purity Mg deposition layer by hot working (solid recycling)

Solid recycling of AZ31 Mg alloy with vapor deposition coating layer of high purity Mg was evaluated. In the open die forging experiments, two AZ31 Mg alloy specimens with the pure Mg layer were sufficiently bonded by forging at 673K. Furthermore, the Al and Zn of the AZ31 substrate diffused up to the center of the pure Mg layer. By the theoretical analysis, it is suggested that the grain boundary diffusion enhanced by grain refinement due to hot forging contributes to the solid state bonding of the specimens. Also, the solid recycled specimen was fabricated from the AZ31 Mg substrate with pure Mg layer by hot extrusion at 673K. The solid recycled specimen showed almost the same tensile properties as the virgin extruded specimen. This is probably related not only to the grain boundary diffusion but also severe plastic deformation by hot extrusion.