Texture modification of magnesium alloys during electropulse treatment

Abstract

Differential speed rolling (DSR) at room temperature has been carried out on two Mg–1Gd and Mg–1Zn–1Gd rare-earth-containing magnesium alloys with different thickness reductions. The cold-rolled samples were selected to investigate the microstructure and texture evolution during the electropulse treatment (EPT). Both grain refinement and texture modification have been achieved for the three cold-rolled samples, which were accompanied by nucleation and nuclei growth during EPT. The recrystallisation process could be attributed to enhanced climb activity of dislocations by EPT, which produces not only a thermal effect but also an athermal effect. Compared with Mg–1Gd, Mg–1Zn–1Gd shows a smaller recrystallisation rate, which should be related to the solute segregation and could be one of the reasons for the texture modification of the alloy.

This paper is part of a themed issue on Materials in External Fields.