Cavitation behavior during superplastic deformation of AZ31 magnesium alloy

Superplasticity of AZ31 Mg alloy at the temperature range of 250-450°C and stain rate range of 0.7 × 10^-3 - 1.4 × 10^-1 s^-1 was examined through uniaxial tensile test. Optical microscopy (OM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were employed to investigate the morphology of cavities and surface relief near fracture surface, respectively. It is shown that AZ31 Mg alloy starts to exhibit superplasticity from 300°C. The maximum elongation of 362.5% was obtained at 400°C and strain rate of 0.7 × 10^-3 s^-1. There exist many O-shaped cavities and filaments at the boundaries near fracture surface. The fracture of filaments results in intergranular cavity and the model for the formation of intergranular cavities is proposed. The growth of cavities is plasticity-controlled and the serrated boundaries of intergranular cavities agree with the results of surface relieves.