Comparison of Quasi-static and Cyclic Plastic Behaviour of a Wrought Magnesium Alloy

The extrusion of magnesium alloys generates characteristic crystallographic textures which lead to a significant orientation dependence of the mechanical properties as well as a distinctive tension-compression yield asymmetry. This will also affect the cyclic deformation behaviour of such extruded profiles. The objective of this study is to investigate and compare the deformation behaviour of textured profiles of the AZ31 magnesium alloy during both static and cyclic testing. The influence of the loading conditions on the evolution of the microstructure and crystallographic texture during testing will be shown. Fatigue tests have been performed under tensile and compressive loading (stress ratio R = 0.05 and R = infinity) at low frequency. Microstructure and texture analysis before and after testing will enable a discussion on the fatigue behaviour of textured samples in tension and compression.