Rare earth texture analysis of rectangular extruded Mg alloys and a comparison of different alloying adding ways

The microstructures and textures of four rectangular extruded Mg alloys, Mg–3Gd, Mg–3Nd, Mg–1Gd–1Nd and Mg–1.5Gd–1.5Nd (all in wt%) were investigated by using optical microscopy (OM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). The results demonstrate that the extruded alloys all reveal fully recrystallized microstructure and weak non-basal texture. For textures of the four extruded alloys, it is shown that the basal planes of majority grains tilt away from the sheet plane normal toward the extrusion direction. Compared with two binary alloys, the ternary alloys possess weaker texture strengths. Through orientation distribution function analysis, two types of rare earth textures, {01\(\bar{1}\)3} <0\(\bar{2}\)23> and {\(\bar{1}\)2\(\bar{1}\)5} <1\(\bar{2}\)13>, were found in the extruded alloys. Texture component {\(\bar{1}\)2\(\bar{1}\)5} <1\(\bar{2}\)13> is relatively weak, but it plays a critical role in the low texture intensities of two ternary alloys. A pairing effect of Gd and Nd elements has an influence on the texture modification. Additionally, there is a difference in the sensitivities of experimental parameters between the microstructure and texture.