Role of Ca content on microstructure, mechanical properties and strain evolution of as-rolled Mg-Al-Ca-Zn-Mn alloy

The role of Ca content (0.5, 1.0, 2.0 wt.%) on microstructure, mechanical properties and strain evolution of as-rolled Mg-Al-Ca-Zn-Mn alloy was thoroughly investigated in this work. The results indicate that the primary second phase transformed from the Mg₁₇Al₁₂ phase to the Al₂Ca phase after homogenization, and the amount of Al₂Ca phase increased significantly with increasing Ca content. After hot rolling, the alloys exhibited the typical bimodal microstructure composed of fine dynamic recrystallized (DRXed) grains and coarse elongated un-DRXed grains, the area fraction of the DRXed regions increased with increasing Ca content. Besides, a large number of submicron-sized as well as nano-scaled spherical Mg₁₇Al₁₂ phases dynamically precipitated along the DRXed grain boundaries in all alloys, which promoted the DRX and restricted the grain growth. During rolling deformation, DRX preferentially occurred near the primary second phases and shear bands by the particle stimulated nucleation (PSN) and shear band induced nucleation (SBIN) mechanism in the alloys. The ultimate tensile strength (UTS), yield strength (YS), and elongation to failure (EF) along the rolling direction (RD) of the Mg-8.0Al-1.0Ca-1.0Zn-0.4Mn (wt.%) sheet were 393 MPa, 334 MPa and 8.7%, respectively. Such high strength was mainly attributed to fine DRXed grains, high number density of dynamically precipitated Mg₁₇Al₁₂ phases and strongly textured un-DRXed grains with numerous sub-structures. The reasonable DRX ratio moderated strain localization and thus stabilized tensile deformation, leading to moderate plasticity of the alloy.