Influence of the processing of magnesium alloys AZ31 and ZE10 on the sheet formability at elevated temperature

Abstract

The substitution of conventional materials such as aluminium alloys and steels with the lightest structural metal magnesium and its alloys can yield significant weight saving in the transportation industry and hence, reduce vehicle weight and greenhouse gas emissions. Producing magnesium sheets by conventional hot rolling is expensive due to the large number of rolling passes to final gauge and annealing steps at elevated temperatures between the rolling passes. Twin roll casting is a well established processing route for aluminium sheets which can reduce the necessary rolling passes to a bare minimum to reduce the production costs. This process is receiving increasing attention for the production of magnesium sheets. This study reveals first hand results of sheet metal forming experiments on magnesium sheets rolled from twin roll cast strip as well as conventional DC cast slabs. Two different alloys, AZ31 (Mg-3Al-1Zn-Mn) and rare earth element containing ZE10 (Mg-1Zn-RE) were investigated. It is known that these alloys show significant differences in the microstructure development during conventional rolling as a result of recrystallisation. For hot rolled AZ31, distinct textures are formed with the majority of basal planes oriented in the sheet plane and hence, unfavourably for basal slip. Conventionally rolled ZE10 commonly shows a much weaker texture. Forming limit diagrams are presented and discussed with respect to the initial texture of the sheets. Strain response to various strain paths and plastic anisotropy are evaluated. Results of twin roll cast sheets are compared with conventionally hot rolled sheet of the same alloys. Competitive formability can be achieved at 200°C for all tested sheets. While conventionally rolled sheets show a generally higher formability than their twin roll cast counterparts, ZE10 outperforms AZ31 for both processing routes.