The Development of Spheroidal Grains and Thixoforming of AZ91D Magnesium Alloy Treated by Different Routes

Abstract

A new process squeeze casting-solid extrusion was introduced to prepare semi-solid billets for thixoforging together with partial remelting. The microstructure development and tensile properties of AZ91D alloy reheated from states of as-cast and SCSE-formed were researched. During partial remelting, samples from SCSE-formed obtained finer and more uniform microstructure obviously than from as-cast. As the holding time went on, both solid particles from the two states experienced continuous spheroidization, and in the meantime from SCSE-formed were always to coarsen, while from as-cast were refined initially and coarsened then. Microstructure development is determined by the combination effects of various factors, including distortion energy from SCSE deformation, grain coalescence, Ostwald ripening mechanism, etc. During thixoforging, components with good forming quality were prepared successfully. Excellent tensile properties were obtained for the thixoforged alloy prepared by SCSE deformation, mainly with the microstructure refinement and the decrease of defects related. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ms.20.4.6482

Keywords

• AZ91D alloy
• squeeze casting-solid extrusion
• spheroidal grains
• aggregation
• tensile properties