Superplasticity enhanced by two-stage deformation in a hot-extruded AZ61 magnesium alloy

A two-stage strain rate deformation method is proposed to enhance the superplasticity in a hot extruded AZ61 alloy. In the stage-one of deformation, a relatively high strain rate was applied in order to obtain fine grains through dynamic recrystallization. The optimum strain rate for DRX at 300degreesC was identified as similar to5x10(-3) s(-1). Stage-two is conducted at relatively low strain rate in order to utilize the fine grains refined by DRX during stage-one to make the grain boundary sliding operate more smoothly, which resulting in enhanced superplastic elongation from 350% to 440%.