Superplastic response in Al-Mg sheet alloys

The ability to achieve large strains to failure coupled with extremely low flow stresses makes superplastic forming (SPF) an attractive option in the automotive industry for the manufacture of complex parts from aluminum (Al) sheet. However, a barrier to increased usage is the cost penalty associated with superplastic alloys, which are specially processed to have a small and stable grain size. In this article, high-temperature tensile tests are used to compare the superplastic performance of two different Al-Mg alloys that were specially processed for SPF with that of a conventionally processed Al-Mg alloy. The results of the tensile tests and optical microscopy are used to highlight the mechanisms that control deformation in each of these alloys under different test conditions. Failure in both types of materials was found to change from internal cavitation to external necking with increases in strain rate. The specially processed alloys experienced minimal grain growth or grain elongation during forming, and therefore it was assumed that deformation was controlled by grain boundary sliding. Contrary to this, the conventionally processed alloy experienced significant grain growth at the higher test temperatures, and hence it was concluded that deformation was at least partially controlled by some mechanism other than grain boundary sliding. The different deformation characteristics resulted in a different set of optimal forming conditions for the two types of materials. The SPF alloys displayed higher strains to failure at the slower strain rates and higher temperatures, while the conventionally processed alloy displayed higher strains to failure at the faster strain rates and lower temperatures.