Superplasticity at Intermediate Temperatures of ZK60 Magnesium Alloy Processed by Indirect Extrusion

Magnesium alloys usually exhibit excellent superplasticity at high temperature. However, many Mg alloys have poor formation ability near room temperature. Therefore, preparation of Mg alloys with suitable microstructures to show low or intermediate temperature superplasticity is an important goal. In this work, the superplastic behavior at intermediate temperatures of a commercial ZK60 magnesium alloy processed by indirect extrusion was investigated. After extrusion, the alloy showed a refined and homogeneous microstructure with an average grain size of 4 ± 2 μm. Overall texture measurement indicated that the alloy showed a strong prismatic texture with the highest intensity oriented to pole ⟨101¯0⟩. A texture component ⟨1¯21¯1⟩ parallel to the extrusion direction was found; this type of texture is commonly observed in Mg alloys with rare earth additions. Tensile tests were performed at temperatures of 150, 200, and 250 °C at three strain rates of 10−2, 10−3, and 10−4 s−1. A very high ductility was found at 250 °C and 10−4 s−1, resulting in an elongation to failure of 464%. Based on calculations of the activation energy and on interpretation of the deformation mechanism map for magnesium alloys, it was concluded that grain boundary sliding (GBS) is the dominant deformation mechanism.