Materials Science and Engineering A 490 (2008) 411420

Dynamic recrystallization during high temperature deformation of magnesium

T. Al-Samman , G. Gottstein
Institut f ur Metallkunde und Metallphysik, RWTH Aachen, 52056 Aachen, Germany Received 12 November 2007; received in revised form 16 January 2008; accepted 5 February 2008

Abstract As a consequence of the high critical stresses required for the activation of non-basal slip systems, dynamic recrystallization plays a vital role in the deformation of magnesium, particularly at a deformation temperature of 200 C, where a transition from brittle to ductile behavior is observed. Uniaxial compression tests were performed on an extruded commercial magnesium alloy AZ31 at different temperatures and strain rates to examine the inuence of deformation conditions on the dynamic recrystallization (DRX) behavior and texture evolution. Furthermore, the role of the starting texture in the development of the nal DRX grain size was investigated. The recrystallized grain size, measured at large strains ( 1.4) seemed to be more dependent on the deformation conditions than on the starting texture. In contrast to pure magnesium, AZ31 does not undergo grain growth at elevated deformation temperatures, i.e. 400 C, even at a low strain rate of 104 s1 . Certain deformation conditions gave rise to a desired fully recrystallized microstructure with an average grain size of 18 m and an almost random crystallographic texture. For samples deformed at 200 C/102 s1 , optical microscopy revealed DRX inside of deformation twins, which was further investigated by EBSD. 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: DRX; Twinning; Texture; Deformation; Flow behavior; EBSD

1. Introduction At elevated temperatures the workability of magnesium substantially increases as additional slip systems, i.e. non-basal and c + a slip become sufciently available by thermal activation. This conveys excellent formability to the material and enables sheet production by hot rolling. During hot forming the material is liable to undergo recrystallization, i.e. dynamic recrystallization (DRX) which affects the crystallographic texture and thus, material anisotropy. Hence it is of great importance to reveal the texture forming mechanisms during hot working with concurrent recrystallization since most commercial wrought Mg alloys will be fabricated to semi-nished products by such processing. Recrystallization is understood to proceed by nucleation of strain free grains and their subsequent growth until complete impingement. Dynamic recrystallization in magnesium and its alloys has been reported to occur by several mechanisms. Those recrystallization mechanisms can be divided, according to the nature of the recrystallization process into two groups: continuous and

Corresponding author. Tel.: +49 241 80 26861; fax: +49 241 80 22301. E-mail address: al-samman@imm.rwth-aachen.de (T. Al-Samman).

discontinuous recrystallization. A continuous DRX process is a recovery process and proceeds by continuous absorption of dislocations in subgrain boundaries (low angle boundaries) which eventually will result in the formation of high angle boundaries and thus, new grains [1]. Although this mechanism of forming new grains is considered by many authors as a recrystallization mechanism, it is stressed that the very nature of this mechanism is a strong recovery process rather than a classical recrystallization phenomenon, also referred to as discontinuous recrystallization characterized by nucleation and nucleus growth by high angle boundary migration. Regardless of which mechanism continuous dynamic recrystallization (CDRX) or discontinuous dynamic recrystallization (DDRX), it is usually observed that the recrystallization of Mg and its alloys is not accompanied with an obvious change of crystallographic texture, in contrast to fcc materials, where the recrystallization texture is usually very different from the deformation texture and in many cases even more pronounced [2]. In magnesium, it is difcult to investigate the recrystallization texture by means of macrotexture analysis in particular, due to the sixfold rotation symmetry in the basal plane. Depending on the activation of slip systems in the basal plane (single or double 0 RD or 1 0 1 0 RD (RD = rolling direcslip), either a 1 1 2

0921-5093/$ see front matter 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.msea.2008.02.004

412

T. Al-Samman, G. Gottstein / Materials Science and Engineering A 490 (2008) 411420

tion) texture component will form, both of which are related by a 30 0 0 0 1 rotation. In the case of a strong basal texture (basal plane parallel to the rolling plane), which develops favorably by basal slip and twinning no matter what the initial orientation, it is impossible to recognize a texture change after recrystallization in the (0 0 0 2) pole gure owing to the symmetry problem mentioned above. It would be even more difcult in case of a basal ber texture, i.e. the two main deformation components 0 and (0 0 0 1) 1 0 1 0 and their scatter generat(0 0 0 1) 1 1 2 ing a (0 0 0 1) ber texture, because then it would be impossible 0} pole gure. to recognize any texture change even in a {1 0 1 In a previous study we demonstrated that electron back scatter diffraction (EBSD) analysis is indeed a convenient and useful method for investigating the relationship between deformation and recrystallization textures, and we reported a 30 0 0 0 1 preference during nucleation and growth of the dynamically recrystallized grains during plane strain compression tests at 200 and 300 C [3]. Bacroix and co-workers [4] reported similar observations for a Zr2Hf alloy deformed at room temperature by plane strain compression (PSC) and subsequently annealed at selected temperatures. This paper addresses the inuence of DRX on the deformation behavior during hot deformation at selected deformation , ). Uniaxial compression was chosen as the conditions (T, deformation mode since it allows conducting experiments at precisely dened deformation conditions and the samples can be easily quenched immediately after the tests for microstructure characterization. Although uniaxial compression may create

certain difculties concerning texture measurements due to the cylindrical symmetry which may conceal orientation changes with crystal rotations about the cylinder axis, it has the advantage over channel-die PSC that there are no lateral constraints for deformation, which would give rise to a different texture evolution. 2. Experimental procedure The material used in the present study was a commercially extruded magnesium alloy AZ31B with the following chemical composition (wt.%): 2.92 Al, 0.84 Zn, 0.33 Mn, 0.02 Si, 0.004 Fe, 0.001 Cu, 0.001 Ni, Mg (balance). The extrusion parameters were as follows: extrusion temperature (400 C), extrusion velocity (2 m/min), extrusion ratio (d0 /d1 )2 = 9. Prior to the deformation experiments the received material was subjected to annealing at 350 C for 6 h. The extruded and annealed material had a mean grain size of 35 m and a typical extru-

Fig. 1. (a) Schematic illustration of the sample orientations used for uniaxial compression: (1) CD0ED, (2) CD45ED and (3) CD90ED; (b) experimental setup; (c) CD0ED specimens deformed at 400 C/104 s1 to different strains ranging from 0.15 to 2.2.

Fig. 2. Side view of a CD0ED compressed specimen at 200 C/102 s1 to = 1.4 and corresponding SEM images of the marked regions ((1) sheared area); (2) lateral surface of the compressed sample).

T. Al-Samman, G. Gottstein / Materials Science and Engineering A 490 (2008) 411420

413

sion ber texture with the (0 0 0 2)-basal planes lying parallel to the extrusion axis (i.e. ber axis perpendicular to c-axes). For measuring the grain size, the linear intercept method was used. Each measurement used 16 horizontal lines at a magnication of 500 covering a statistic of 4 0 0 0 grains in total. For the uniaxial compression tests, cylindrical specimens ( 15 mm 25 mm) were machined from the extruded rod in three different orientations with the compression axis CD parallel, perpendicular and 45 aligned to the initial extrusion direction ED, respectively (Fig. 1a). Uniaxial compression tests were carried out at nine different deformation conditions, i.e. different temperatures (200, 300 and 400 C) and strain rates (102 , 103 and 104 s1 ), but always to the same nal strain. For the investigation of texture and microstructure development at various stages of deformation some tests were terminated at selected strains ranging from 15% to 220% (Fig. 1c), and the sample was immediately quenched in water to freeze the microstructure for subsequent measurements. The compression rods of the testing machine were equipped with heating elements to heat the specimens from top and bottom up to the desired temperature (Fig. 1b). The time required to raise the temperature to the desired value depended on the test temperature and ranged between 2 and 5 min followed by a 5 min soaking time to establish thermal equilibrium in the specimen. During the tests, the temperature difference between top and bottom of the sample did not exceed 1 K. This was assured by preceding temperature calibration using an advanced temperature

controller (Eurotherm 2704) and three thermocouples built in top, middle, and bottom of the specimen. Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) powder was used to reduce friction between sample and compression rods and to minimize the barrelling effect caused by it. After completion of the tests, specimens for optical microscopy, X-ray texture measurements and EBSD analysis were cut from the center area of the mid-section of the deformed specimens, shortly ground with a very ne SiC paper (4000 grit), and subsequently mechanically polished with diamond paste of particle sizes 3 and 1 m, respectively. Final polishing was performed using a colloidal silica solution. For microstructure observations, specimens were etched after polishing in acetic picral [10 ml acetic acid + 10 ml H2 O + 70 ml picral (4% picric acid in solution with ethanol)]. For EBSD analysis some selected samples were additionally electro-polished in a 5:3 solution of ethanol and H3 PO4 to achieve best indexing. The step size used in EBSD measurements was between 0.2 m and 0.5 m (depending on the grain size of the measured specimen). 3. Results 3.1. Low temperature DRX Taking into account the melting temperature of pure magnesium is 650 C, recrystallization occurring during deformation at 200 C is referred to as low temperature dynamic recrystal-

Fig. 3. (a) Microstructure of the interior region of the same sample shown in Fig. 2 revealing DRX along serrated grain boundaries; (b) magnied image indicating DRX grain sizes of 1 m; (c) EBSD image showing a necklace-type DRX structure; (d) ow curves during uniaxial compression at selected deformation conditions. Peak behavior at low temperatures goes along with the observed low temperature DRX.

414

T. Al-Samman, G. Gottstein / Materials Science and Engineering A 490 (2008) 411420

lization (LTDRX). An optical micrograph of a sample deformed at 200 C/102 s1 is shown in Fig. 2 (top). Obviously, deformation at those conditions, i.e. a relatively high strain rate, and a temperature that is below the typical ductile transition temperature (225250 C) necessary for activating c + a -pyramidal slip, caused mechanical failure. This was observed on the cylindrical surface of the compressed specimen. SEM images were taken from the fractured areas 1 and 2 on the lateral surface of the specimen. As apparent from the image of area 1, the sample underwent massive strain localization which resulted in failure by shearing. Area 2 showed a rough and poor surface quality comprising voids. By contrast, the examined interior region of the same specimen revealed quite different results (Fig. 3ac) because the specimen underwent dynamic recrystallization (Fig. 3a). The recrystallized grain size was about 1 m (Fig. 3b). Flow curves at different deformation conditions (Fig. 3d) rendered for a low deformation temperature (200 C) and different strain rates a typical stressstrain behavior of a material undergoing DRX: after initial work hardening a peak stress was attained, followed by rapid work softening, which typically indicates the onset of DRX (although not necessarily). DRX does not start at the peak stress but already at lower strains (arrow in Fig. 3d) that can be usually associated with the inection point on the = / vs. ow stress curve [5,6]. For practical purposes, the strain at 80% of the

peak ow stress is dened as the critical strain for the initiation of DRX [7]. It is noteworthy, that the ow strain cannot be considered as a state parameter like for instance the ow stress, but as stated above for practical purposes the term critical strain can be used to describe the onset of DRX. In the present case of a deformation at 200 C/102 s1 the initiation of DRX corresponds to a critical strain of 10%. The EBSD image (Fig. 3c) reveals a necklace-type microstructure of ne DRX grains surrounding coarse deformed grains. Necklace formation in AZ31 has been also reported by other authors [810]. 3.2. DRX grain size The inuence of deformation conditions on the recrystallized grain size at steady state conditions ( = 1.2) was examined (Figs. 4 and 5). With increasing deformation temperature T and , i.e. with decreasing ZenerHollomon decreasing strain rate parameter Z [Z = exp(Q/RT ), Q is the activation energy and R the gas constant] the DRX structure became coarser. The grain size evolution at higher temperatures (400 C) was more strain rate sensitive than at lower ones (200 C) (Fig. 5). The onset of DRX during compression at 200 C/102 s1 (highest Z) gave rise to a very ne, partially recrystallized microstructure with an average grain size of 12 m (Fig. 3b) whereas compression

Fig. 4. Optical micrographs (perpendicular to CD) of CD0ED specimens illustrating the DRX microstructure upon uniaxial compression at various deformation conditions ranging from 200 to 400 C and 102 to 104 s1 at a steady state strain of 1.2.

T. Al-Samman, G. Gottstein / Materials Science and Engineering A 490 (2008) 411420

415

( = 1.6) stages of deformation. Prior to uniaxial compression the specimen had a strong extrusion texture with the basal planes oriented parallel to the compression axis. With increasing deformation strain the basal planes gradually reoriented towards the compression direction, eventually giving rise at = 1.6 to a weak, almost random texture. By contrast, texture development for the same specimen CD0ED at other deformation conditions always ended up in the formation of a strong basal texture (basal planes aligned parallel to the compression plane) even at 400 C but at higher strain rates. Interestingly, other specimen types CD45ED and CD90ED (Fig. 1a) exhibited sharp textures, even when tested at the lowest Z, i.e. 400 C/104 s1 [11].
Fig. 5. Average DRX grain size (linear intercept method) of CD0ED specimens at = 1.2 as a function of deformation temperature and deformation strain rate.

3.4. Dynamic recrystallization of twins In the literature little information can be found on the inuence of twins on DRX during hot deformation of magnesium. Although nucleation of DRX at twin boundaries was reported [12], DRX inside twins was seldom found. Twin domains possess much higher stored deformation energy compared to the matrix and are therefore ought to be favorable nucleation sites for DRX. This hypothesis was corroborated for high Z deformation conditions, i.e. 200 C/102 s1 where DRX occurred in regions occupied by twins (Fig. 8). Fortunately, some parts of the twins that did not undergo DRX were still visible in the microstructure after quenching and therefore gave good evidence of DRX taking place inside twins although some neighboring twins were left without DRX for unknown reasons. 4. Discussion 4.1. Role of DRX in the brittleductile transition Uniaxial compression at the highest Z (200 C/102 s1 ) showed contrasting deformation characteristics close to and far from the center of the specimen. Microstructure observations of the brittle lateral surface of the specimen showed extensive cracking (Fig. 2), whereas the ductile inner part of the specimen revealed a partially recrystallized microstructure (Fig. 3). As evident from Fig. 3a, the development of serrated grain boundaries of coarse grains led to the nucleation of DRX by bulging. This discontinuous mechanism caused the formation of a necklace structure of recrystallized grains along the original boundaries, seen in Fig. 3c. At higher deformation temperatures consecutive necklaces eventually consumed the deformed microstructure and caused full DRX. In spite of the relatively low deformation temperature of 200 C, and a relatively high strain rate of 102 s1 , DRX took place in the center of the deformed specimen and caused softening, indicated by the ow curve peak in Fig. 3d. This also improved the ductility in the interior region of the material, i.e. caused a transition from a brittle to a ductile behavior. The difference in deformation behavior of sample center and lateral surface, particularly the absence of DRX in the latter is most likely attributed to an inhomogeneous strain distribution throughout the sample, which is typical for uniaxial compression. Additionally, the effect of a

at (lowest Z) resulted in a coarser grain size of 18 m, and the examined area of the specimen was fully recrystallized. To investigate the inuence of the initial texture on the nal DRX grain size, three different starting textures obtained from the extruded rod (Fig. 1a) were subjected to uniaxial compression under the same deformation conditions, varying temperature and strain rate between 200 and 400 C and 102 and 104 s1 , respectively. For a given temperature and strain rate the average DRX grain size did not vary signicantly with initial texture (Fig. 6). Although the inuence of the initial texture on the recrystallized volume fraction was not examined for each case, the kinetics of DRX was found to be more affected by the deformation conditions than by the crystallographic texture. 3.3. Texture randomization Deformation at the lowest Z (400 C and 104 s1 ) caused texture randomization (Fig. 7). This is illustrated for test series CD0ED (Fig. 1a) in Fig. 7 in terms of ODF sections 2 = 0 and 2 = 30 for early ( = 0.3), moderate ( = 0.7) and advanced

400 C/104 s1

Fig. 6. DRX grain size evolution at different deformation conditions for three different starting orientations, i.e. CD0ED, CD45ED and CD90ED.

416

T. Al-Samman, G. Gottstein / Materials Science and Engineering A 490 (2008) 411420

Fig. 7. ODF sections at 2 = 0 and 2 = 30 revealing the texture evolution of specimen type CD0ED upon uniaxial compression at 400 C/104 s1 during different stages of deformation. Intensity levels: 2, 4, 7, 12, 20 and 25.

slight temperature gradient between center and lateral surface should also be considered. Low temperature dynamic recrystallization (LTDRX), i.e. DRX at 200 C is conceived to occur in magnesium due to the lack of easily activated slip systems at low temperatures. It is also promoted by the low stacking fault energy of magnesium and high grain boundary diffusivity [13].

4.2. Inuence of Z on DRX grain size and texture evolution The recrystallized grain size showed a strong dependence on both the temperature and strain rate. In particular, at higher temperatures it was very strain rate sensitive. Similar tendency was observed while investigating the inuence of Z on the texture evolution of extruded pure magnesium dur-

Fig. 8. Optical (a) and SEM micrograph (b) of a CD0ED specimen deformed at 200 C/102 s1 up to = 1.2 showing dynamic recrystallization inside of deformation twins. The micrographs are perpendicular to CD.

T. Al-Samman, G. Gottstein / Materials Science and Engineering A 490 (2008) 411420

417

Fig. 9. Texture evolution of extruded pure Mg upon PSC ( = 1.5) at different deformation conditions. At 400 C, texture evolution is very strain rate sensitive compared to the one at 200 C [14].

ing PSC [14]. At 200 C (top row in Fig. 9) no signicant change of the texture was observed by changing the strain rate. At 400 C (bottom row in Fig. 9) different strain rates led to a conspicuously different texture evolution. This corroborates that at higher temperatures strain rate sensitivity does not only affect the DRX grain size but also the texture evolution. Contrary to pure Mg and some other binary Mg alloys, AZ31 did not undergo signicant grain growth during lowest Z deformation (400 C/104 s1 ). This was evident in Fig. 4 by the ne grain size of 18 m. By contrast, the microstructure of an initially extruded pure magnesium sample revealed very coarse grains (D 200 m) upon PSC deformation at 400 C/104 s1 . The grain size can be related to the steady state ow stress by a power law with an exponent of 0.85 (Fig. 10). This corresponds to observations on other materials [15,16]. At 400 C, a rapid and signicant increase of the grain size was observed from the microstructures, and the measured grain size revealed a noticeable deviation from the low temperature relation between ow stress and grain size (Fig. 10), most probably due to grain growth. 4.3. Role of DRX in texture randomization The texture evolution (Fig. 7) suggests that a texture randomization could be realized under certain deformation conditions, i.e. 400 C/104 s1 . The initial texture of test series CD0ED

(Figs. 1a and 7) was designed to suppress basal slip under compressive loading since the basal planes were essentially parallel to the loading direction (Schmid factor zero). Under these conditions non-basal slip modes need to be activated for deformation. The slip system easiest to be activated in magnesium besides basal slip is prismatic slip. However, although this slip system is favorably oriented in the used conguration, it cannot accommodate strain along the c-axis and therefore cannot compensate the imposed deformation. For this, c + a -pyramidal slip is needed and in fact, is also favorably oriented for the chosen deformation geometry (high Schmid factor). The selected initial texture promotes also 2}-twinning planes the formation of tensile twins with {1 0 1 since the compression direction is aligned parallel to the basal planes. However, increasing temperatures and decreasing strain rates render twinning less important for deformation [17]. These facts would lead to the conclusion that uniaxial compression of CD0ED specimen at high temperatures and low strain rates should give rise to a particular texture, developed by a combination of c + a -pyramidal and prismatic slip. However, the obtained texture development (Fig. 7) demonstrated that with increasing strain the specimen progressively lost its texture sharpness. For this reason, texture randomization cannot be attributed to slip activity tak 2}-pyramidal and {1 0 1 0}-prismatic ing place on the {1 1 2 planes, but rather to DRX. After all, at 400 C/104 s1 DRX was very much evident and resulted in a fully recrystallized microstructure.

418

T. Al-Samman, G. Gottstein / Materials Science and Engineering A 490 (2008) 411420

4.4. Mechanism of DRX in twins and its effect on the overall texture From the metallography of recrystallization twins (Fig. 8) no conclusions can be drawn on the DRX mechanism inside of twins. Therefore, a detailed EBSD analysis was performed to gain information on the orientation of the recrystallized areas in a twin with respect to the neighboring twins and the parent grains (matrix). A sample area with recrystallized twins is shown in 0 misorientaFig. 11. The twin boundaries revealed a 86 1 1 2 tion relationship with the matrix and therefore, were identied as 2}-tensile twins. The presence of some low angle bound{1 0 1 aries in the recrystallized twin structure is apparently due to the dynamics of the process, i.e. low angle boundaries are rst formed inside the twin and with progressing deformation they increasingly incorporate dislocations and eventually convert to high angle boundaries. This will fragment the original twin and create a new structure of ne grains. Neighboring twins that showed no DRX (Fig. 11c) were free of low angle boundaries, and the reason for why they did not undergo recrystallization is still unknown. May be the twin was unfavorably oriented for deformation so that no dislocation structure was formed. The orientation relationship of the recrystallized twins with respect to the parent grains and the neighboring twins is presented in Fig. 12a and b in terms of the angle between the c-axis of the grains and the compression direction CD. As shown, the caxes of the parent grains were scattered around the compression axis within 020 peaking at 15 . They essentially had a basal orientation (basal planes parallel to the compression plane of the specimen). Neighboring tensile twins with no DRX were rotated 90 away from the parent grains. The c-axes of the recrystallized structure of former twins scattered between 30 and 70 from the compression axis. It should be stated that the presence of tensile twins within the basal-oriented matrix is quite uncommon. At the beginning of deformation, the prism-oriented grains can eas-

Fig. 10. Optical micrograph and steady state ow stress vs. recrystallized grain size of pure Mg indicating grain growth during high-temperature deformation.

2} tensile twins; (b) detailed view of Fig. 11. (a) EBSD-Kikuchi band contrast map of the same specimen shown in Fig. 8 revealing recrystallized twins and {1 0 1 a recrystallized twin indicating the presence of some low angle boundaries (thin lines) within the recrystallized structure comprised of high angle boundaries (bold lines); (c) neighboring tensile twin showing no recrystallization.

T. Al-Samman, G. Gottstein / Materials Science and Engineering A 490 (2008) 411420

419

Fig. 12. (a and b) EBSD map and corresponding misorientation angle histogram of the same measured sample from Fig. 11 showing the orientation (c-axis) of parent grains, recrystallized former twins and tensile twins with respect to the compression axis; (c) microtexture of the measured area. Intensity levels: 1, 2, 4, 7, 10, 15, 20 and 30. RD: radial direction.

ily twin and the whole microstructure can be converted to twin orientation quite rapidly. Once a basal texture has been attained, i.e. the c-axes of grains have been aligned with the compression direction it is rather unlikely that the grains would exhibit tensile twinning while their c-axes are being compressed. On the other hand, during unloading of the highly compressed specimen, the c-axis of parent grains could experience little yet enough tensile along the loading direction, which renders tensile twinning possible. Tensile twinning taking place during unloading has been readily reported [18,19]. This hypothesis would also explain why these twins were not recrystallized (as they form during unloading and not before). Apparently, the tensile twins

Fig. 13. Schematic diagram showing the grain rotations produced by different tensile twinning variants.

in the basal-oriented matrix comprised three different variants. These are shown in Fig. 13. In order to examine the inuence of the texture of the recrystallized twins on the nal compression texture, the total microtexture (Fig. 12c) was decomposed into three texture components comprising the parent grains (Fig. 14a), different variants of the tensile twins with no DRX (Fig. 14b) and the recrystallized twins (Fig. 14c), respectively. From the intensi-

Fig. 14. Microtexture components of (a) parent grains, (b) tensile twins of different variants and (c) recrystallized twins. The sum of these textures results in the overall texture shown in Fig. 12c. RD: radial direction (continued from Figs. 12 and 13).

420

T. Al-Samman, G. Gottstein / Materials Science and Engineering A 490 (2008) 411420

ties of the three texture components presented in Fig. 14 the total texture is given in Fig. 12c. It can be concluded that the recrystallization texture of the former twins plays an important role in weakening the overall texture by counteracting the strong deformation texture of the parent grains. 5. Conclusions (1) During uniaxial compression at 200 C/102 s1 a transient deformation behavior was found. The lateral surface of the specimen exhibited typical failure characteristics and was considered brittle. The center of the specimen behaved ductile and revealed dynamic recrystallization. The respective softening was reected by the stressstrain and is conceived to restore ductility to the material. The driving force for such low temperature DRX was ascribed to a lack of easily activated slip systems at the examined deformation conditions. (2) Uniaxial compression at the lowest Z, i.e. 400 C/104 s1 achieved a remarkably high strain of 2.2. (3) The steady state DRX grain size depended much more on deformation temperature and strain rate, i.e. on the ZenerHollomon parameter Z than on the initial texture of the specimen. It increased with decreasing Z. At 400 C, the DRX grain size was markedly strain rate sensitive. (4) AZ31 showed virtually no grain growth at elevated temperatures (400 C) and low strain rates (104 s1 ) and developed an average recrystallized grain size of 18 m. By contrast, at the same deformation conditions pure magnesium with comparable initial grain size developed coarse grains (>200 m) indicating the occurrence of grain growth. (5) There is a processing window where complete recrystallization and a nearly random texture can be established = 104 s1 , = 1.6). This was attributed (T = 400 C, besides the high deformation temperature to the initial crystallographic orientations that inhibited the activation of mechanical twinning and suppressed basal slip, both caused the formation of strong textures at higher Z processing. Texture randomization was apparently due to DRX. (6) Besides necklace formation as a DRX mechanism, dynamic recrystallization also took place inside of twins (observed during highest Z deformation). The texture of recrystallized

twins was much weaker than the texture of the parent grains. The mechanism of DRX in twins was found to be of continuous nature, involving the formation of low angle boundaries and their conversion to high angle boundaries forming new, 2}-Tensile twins (probably formed during ne grains. {1 0 1 unloading) surrounded the recrystallized twins, as identied by EBSD. Acknowledgments Financial support of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, grant no. (GO 335/27) is gratefully acknowledged. The authors would like to thank Otto-Fuchs AG for the kind donation of the material. Thanks also to Bashir Ahmad for help with certain gures and measurements. References
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] S.E. Ion, F.J. Humphreys, S.H. White, Acta Metall. 30 (1982) 19091919. I. Samajdar, R.D. Doherty, Acta Mater. 46 (1998) 31453158. G. Gottstein, T. Al-Samman, Mater. Sci. Forum 495497 (2005) 623632. K.Y. Zhu, D. Chaubet, B. Bacroix, F. Brisset, Acta Mater. 53 (2005) 51315140. D.L. Yin, K.F. Zhang, G.F. Wang, W.B. Han, Mater. Sci. Eng. A 392 (2005) 320325. E.I. Poliak, J.J. Jonas, Acta Mater. 44 (1996) 127136. M.R. Barnett, Mater. Sci. Forum 426432 (2003) 515520. S. Spigarelli, M. El Mehtedi, M. Cabibbo, E. Evangelista, J. Kaneko, A. J ager, V. Gartnerova, Mater. Sci. Eng. A 462 (2007) 197201. A. Galiyev, R. Kaibyshev, G. Gottstein, Acta Mater. 49 (2001) 11991207. M.R. Barnett, A.G. Beer, D. Atwell, A. Oudin, Scr. Mater. 51 (2004) 1924. T. Al-Samman, G. Gottstein, in: K.U. Kainer (Ed.), Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Magnesium Alloys and their Applications, Wiley-VCH, 2006, pp. 553559. M.R. Barnett, Mater. Trans. 44 (2003) 571577. J. Tan, M. Tan, Mater. Sci. Eng. A 339 (2003) 124132. T. Al-Samman, G. Gottstein, Mater. Sci. Forum 539543 (2007) 34013406. B. Derby, Acta Metall. Mater. 39 (1991) 955962. M.J. Luton, C.M. Sellars, Acta Metall. 17 (1969) 10331043. C.N. Tom e, S.R. Agnew, W.R. Blumenthal, M.A.M. Bourke, D.W. Brown, G.C. Kaschner, et al., Mater. Sci. Forum 408412 (2002) 263268. M.D. Nave, M.R. Barnett, Scr. Mater. 51 (2004) 881885. L. Jiang, J.J. Jonas, R.K. Mishra, A.A. Luo, A.K. Sachdev, S. Godet, Acta Mater. 55 (2007) 38993910.

[12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19]