Fundamental studies on the thermal stability and mechanical characteristics of AZ31 alloy

A fundamental research effort on the thermal stability and mechanical characteristics of AZ31 alloy was undertaken in this study. The as-received alloy had a fine grain size (∼4.4 μm). Different heat treatment temperatures (250–520 °C) were used to generate various grain sizes. The heat treatment time was kept at 3 h and varied in some cases in order to measure the activation energy for grain growth. Microhardness and tensile tests were performed, and the relevant Hall–Petch relationships were developed using the mechanical test data. The level of anisotropy in AZ31 alloy has been shown to be lower in the heat treated alloys compared to the as-received alloy. The mechanical anisotropy parameters (R and P) were also estimated.