Workability Limits of Magnesium Alloy AZ31B Subjected to Equal Channel Angular Pressing

Equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) is an important severe plastic deformation process to produce ultrafine grained microstructures in metals and alloys. Magnesium and its alloys generally possess poor workability at temperatures below 250 °C. This investigation examines the influence of different passes and processing routes of ECAP on improving the workability of Mg alloy AZ31B. ECAP was carried out for three passes using a die of angle 120° using processing routes Bc and C. The operating temperature was 523 K for the first pass and 423 K for the subsequent two passes. The resultant microstructure and mechanical properties were determined. Workability of the alloy at 423 K (150 °C) was determined using upsetting experiments on cylindrical specimens machined from the annealed and ECAPed samples. Workability limit diagrams have been constructed for the various processed conditions. The workability data generated were also analyzed using five different workability criteria (also referred to as ductile fracture models) and the material constants for these five models were evaluated. Specimens processed by two passes through route C (pass 2C) exhibits better workability compared to other passes since the workability limit line after this pass shows maximum safe working area and lies above the other workability lines. Among the five different workability criteria investigated, the Freudenthal workability criterion is more suitable for prediction of failure in this alloy.