Microstructure, texture and mechanical properties of hot-rolled Mg–4Al–2Sn–0.5Y–0.4Nd alloy

A new Mg–Al–Sn–RE alloy with high ductility at room temperature has been developed. Homogenized Mg–4Al–2Sn–0.5Y–0.4Nd plates 25 mm in thickness were hot-rolled to 1 mm at 673K. The microstructures were characterized as fully recrystallized grains with a lot of fragmented fine particles along the rolling direction. The sheet specimen possesses basal texture of (0002) with the basal pole tilting by about 15° from the normal direction toward the rolling direction. Meanwhile, the texture strength was weakened, which is resulted from the non-basal <c + a > slip and recrystallization texture. For the as-rolled alloy, the yield strength and tensile strength in transverse direction are both higher than those of rolling direction. The average Lankford value is 1.83, which is lower than conventional AZ31 rolled magnesium alloy sheets. The relatively high elongation and low planar anisotropy implies good formability at room temperature