Compression tests were performed on Mg-0.5Ca, Mg-1Ca and Mg-2Zn-2Nd alloys (as-cast and heat treated) under various temperature and strain rate conditions. Serrations on the flow curves as well as negative strain rate sensitivities were found in the results, which indicated the occurrence of dynamic strain aging (DSA). The activation energies Q for DSA in these alloys were measured to be about 70 kJ/mol. The Mg-0.5Ca and Mg-1Ca alloys had similar regions of negative SRS due to similar levels of Ca in solid solution. The negative SRS range of the Mg-2Zn-2Nd was significantly enlarged by increasing the solute content of Nd through heat treatment. Shear bands formed in samples deformed under negative SRS conditions. It is shown that the rare earth (RE) texture component is produced by extruding the Mg-0.5Ca alloy under negative SRS conditions. At ambient temperature, these samples displayed an excellent combination of yield strength and ductility as well as the minimum amount of compression/tension asymmetry.
Results are presented to indicate that strain rate has an effect on the deformation and dynamic recrystallization (DRX) behavior of the Mg-2Zn-2Nd alloy. At 400 °C, the 0.1 and 0.01/s strain rate compression flow curves display work hardening to a peak stress at about 0.2 true strain. However, the flow stress of the 0.001/s sample reaches a steady state at the small strain of around 0.03. In the sample deformed at 400 °C and 0.1/s (i.e. under negative SRS conditions), three mechanisms of DRX were activated: twin DRX (TDRX), discontinuous DRX (DDRX) and continuous DRX (CDRX). At 400 °C and 0.01/s, DDRX occurred as a result of grain boundary bulging, followed by CDRX on further straining. At 400 °C and 0.001/s, only CDRX took place because of the limited number of slip systems activated. The activation of multiple DRX mechanisms in the 0.1/s sample produced the weakest deformation texture.