Texture Evolution during Recrystallization in Magnesium Alloy Sheets

Abstract

Mg alloys have the lowest density among commercially available structural alloys, which can provide significant weight savings in automobiles. For the widespread application of Mg alloys, however, Mg alloys should overcome a critical shortcoming; poor formability at room temperature mainly originated from strong basal texture developed during thermomechanical processing. It has been recently reported that the addition of Rare earth (RE) elements and Ca to Mg-Zn alloys weakens and randomizes the texture. The texture of these RE and Ca containing Mg-Zn alloys can be described as the broadened angular distribution of basal poles along the transverse direction (TD) and split of basal poles along the rolling direction (RD) in as-rolled condition. However, a significant change in texture occurs after annealing process; splitting of basal poles toward the TD from the original RD in particular. Texture evolution during annealing is closely related with recrystallization behavior, but the detailed mechanism of recrystallization such as the orientation of recrystallized grains and its effect on the texture has not been clearly revealed yet.