Thermomechanical Processing of Magnesium Alloy Elektron 43

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Abstract

Elektron 43 (WE43C) is a modern magnesium rare earth alloy (Mg-RE) with potential light-weighting applications in wrought civil aerospace components. Rare earth elements are known to improve mechanical properties and weaken texture of wrought Mg-RE alloys, but for Elektron 43 the parameters of thermomechanical processing (TMP) that produce optimum microstructure development are not well understood. A large data-set of Elektron 43 flow stress data was collected in an extensive range of hot compression tests at typical TMP temperatures (350-500°C) and strain rates (0.001-100\s). Friction parameters were determined in a ring compression study. Material data was corrected for friction, strain rate and temperature variations. Parameters were fit for a sinh constitutive equation. The corrected material data and used to develop an initial finite element model in the commercial software package QForm. Further work to calibrate the heat transfer parameters is required. The effect of two extrusion parameters (temperature and ram speed) on microstructure and mechanical properties was explored. Extrusion of 60 mm diameter Elektron 43 billets to 20 mm diameter rods (ER=9.92) was conducted at three temperatures (380°C, 420°C and 460°C) and a range of ram speeds (~0.1-15 mm/s). An approximate extrusion limit diagram was formed from empirical relations for extrusion load and hot cracking. Extruded microstructures were bi-modal consisting of dynamically recrystallised (DRX) grains and elongated deformed grains. The typical `prismatic' deformation texture (extrusion direction ED

Keyword(s)

Asymmetry; Constitutive; EBSD; Extrusion; Magnesium; Rare Earth; Recrystallisation; Recrystallization; Texture

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