Superplasticity of Magnesium Alloys and SPF Applications

Magnesium alloys are of emerging interest in the automotive, aerospace and electronic industries due to their light weight, high specific strength, damping capacity, etc. However, practical applications are limited because magnesium alloys have poor formability at room temperature due to the lack of slip systems and the formation of basal texture, both of which characteristics are attributed to the hcp crystal structure. Fortunately, many magnesium alloys, even commercialized AZ or ZK series alloys, exhibit superplastic behavior and show very large tensile ductility, which means that these materials have potential application to superplastic forming (SPF) of magnesium alloy sheets. The SPF technique offers many advantages such as near net shaping, design flexibility, simple process and low die cost. Superplasticity occurs in materials having very small grain sizes of less than $10{\mu}m$ and these small grains in magnesium alloys can be achieved by thermomechanical treatment in conventional rolling or extrusion processes. Moreover, some coarse-grained magnesium alloys are reported to have superplasticity when grain refinement occurs through recrystallization during deformation in the initial stage. This report reviews the characteristics of superplastic magnesium alloys with high-strain rate and coarse grains. Finally, some examples of SPF application are suggested.

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