A novel severe plastic deformation method for manufacturing AZ31 magnesium alloy tube

A new severe plastic deformation called TES (tube extrusion shearing) process, which combines direct extrusion with two-step shearing, is developed to manufacture tubes made of wrought AZ31 magnesium alloy. To explore the deformation mechanisms of TES process, both experiment and numerical simulation are carried out. Three-dimensional finite element modeling is used to investigate the plastic deformation behaviors of wrought magnesium alloy during TES process. Experiments show that by use of TES process the microstructures can be refined to 50% of the original grain size and with more uniform grain distribution. TES process could improve hardness obviously by comparing which fabricated by direct extrusion. Numerical results indicate TES increases the cumulative strains effectively by direct extrusion and additional shearing.