Effect of grain refinement and phase composition on room temperature superplasticity and damping capacity of dual-phase Zn-Al alloys

The effects of grain refinement and phase composition on superplasticity and damping capacity of eutectic Zn-5Al and eutectoid Zn-22Al alloys were investigated. For grain refinement, equal-channel angular pressing (ECAP) was applied to these alloys. ECAP completely eliminated the as-cast lamellar microstructures of both alloys and resulted in ultrafine-grained structures along with room temperature superplasticity. Furthermore, these microstructural changes with ECAP increased the damping capacity of both alloys in the dynamic hysteresis region, where damping arises from viscous sliding of phase/grain boundaries. Dynamic recrystallization at the surface and thermally activated viscous motion of grain/phase boundaries at the subsurface of the samples of both alloys were proposed as the damping mechanisms in the region where the alloys showed combined aspects of static/dynamic hysteresis damping behavior. Although the grain size is larger in Zn-5Al compared to Zn-22Al, it showed higher damping capacity due to the different sliding characteristics of its phase boundaries.