Texture development in a warm rolled AZ31 magnesium alloy

The effect of rolling conditions on the microstructure and texture development was investigated using an AZ31 Mg alloy sheet. Several processing parameters such as initial thickness, thickness reduction per pass, rolling temperature, roll speed, and roll temperature were varied. Microstructure and texture were measured on specimens subjected to rolling experiments of different reductions. Warm rolling of 30% thickness reduction per pass was possible without any side-crack at temperatures as low as 200 C under the roll speed of 30 m/min. Grain refinement was found to occur actively during the warm rolling, producing a very fine grain size of similar to 7 mu m after 50% reduction in single pass rolling at 200 degrees C. Texture of AZ31 Mg alloy sheets were evaluated by both X-ray and neutron diffraction method in this study. The (1010), (0002), (1011) and (1012) pole figures were measured using the HANARO FCD (neutron four circle diffractometer) and ODF were calculated. The major texture of all specimens can be expressed by ND//(0001) fiber texture. The intensity of fiber texture component, however, decreased as the reduction in single pass rolling increased. (c) 2007 Published by Elsevier B.V.