Influence of Static Precipitation on Microstructure and Texture of Annealed Cold-Rolled Mg-Al-Sn Alloys

The final mechanical properties of wrought magnesium alloys are mostly controlled by its microstructure and crystallographic orientation or texture. In the sheet form of common magnesium alloys, grain coarsening occurs during annealing, which only serves to strengthen the undesirable basal texture. One method to alleviate this problem is by stopping grain coarsening. Hence the aim of this work is to investigate the effect of static precipitation on microstructure and texture evolution during annealing at various temperatures after cold rolling. Mg-Al-Sn alloys were designed using thermodynamic modeling software, FactSage^TM. It was found that static precipitates can only form extensively, after static recrystallization, at the recrystallized grain boundaries, and these retard grain growth during annealing. Presence of precipitates at the recrystallized grain boundaries also retard the strengthening of basal texture during annealing, related to grain coarsening.