Grain Refinement of AZ31 and AZ61 Mg Alloys through Room Temperature Processing by UP-Scaled High-Pressure Torsion

This study presents application of an up-scaled high-pressure torsion (HPT) process to AZ31 and AZ61 Mg alloys for ultrafine grain refinement. Disks with 30 mm diameter were processed at room temperature under 6 to 7 GPa using the up-scaled HPT facility with a maximum capacity of 5 MN (500 ton). Microstructural evolution was evaluated by hardness measurement and microscopy observations including tensile testing. The grain size was well refined to ∼150 nm and ∼100 nm at the saturated state for the AZ31 and AZ61 alloys, respectively. Superplastic elongations of ∼520% and ∼550% were then attained in the corresponding alloys when tested in tension at elevated temperatures because of the grain boundary sliding controlled by grain boundary diffusion. Upsizing of the disk sample makes for a chance to extract the tensile specimens at different radial distance within the same disk and therefore the effect of the equivalent strain on the superplastic elongations was effectively evaluated