The Orientation Dependence of Strain Hardening and Texture Development in an Extruded Magnesium Alloy

Extruded magnesium alloys showed mechanical anisotropy due to the development of strong crystallographic textures during forming processes. In the present study the strain hardening behavior and texture evolution of an extruded AM30 magnesium alloy were studied in compression using cylindrical samples oriented at angles of 0°, 15°, 30°, 45° and 90° from the extrusion direction (ED). The yield strength decreased with increasing angle up to 45° and then increased at 90° from the ED, while the ultimate compressive strength exhibited a reverse trend. Both hardening capacity and fracture strain first increased from 0° to 45° and then decreased at 90° from the ED. The strain hardening behavior was directly related to the texture change and twinning, which played a key role in accommodating the compressive deformation, as the c-axes in most grains were observed to rotate always towards the anti-compression direction, irrespective of the sample orientation.