Effect of Li addition on bending behavior of extruded Mg-2Zn alloy sheet

The effect of Li element on microstructure and texture evolutions of Mg-2Zn alloy sheet during three-point bending at room temperature were investigated. The results showed that the conventional c-axis//ND basal texture of the extruded Mg-2Zn sheet could be modified to a TD-elongated fiber texture with 3 wt.% Li addition. As a result, the room-temperature bendability of the Mg-2Zn-3Li sheet was improved effectively and this sheet showed a minimum bending radius of only 1.75 mm. Such an excellent bendability exceeds the roomtemperature bending capacity of most commercial magnesium alloys. The improvement in bendability of the Mg-2Zn-3Li sheet was attributed to the TD-elongated texture distribution. This type of texture distribution could provide more efficient deformation modes to release the thickness strain during bending compared to the extruded Mg-2Zn sheet. This study could provide insights into developing Mg alloys with high room-temperature bendability by tailoring texture distribution rather than texture weakening.