An investigation of dynamic recrystallization behavior of ZK60-Er magnesium alloy

In the present study, the dynamic recrystallization (DRX) of ZK60 alloys with nominal amount of 0, 0.5, 1, 2 and 4 wt% Er additions was studied by hot compression at 400 °C and a strain rate of 1 s−1 to a series of true strains from 0.1 to 1.6. It was found that microstructure and texture evolutions were essentially similar for all experimental metals. Around the peak strain several DRX mechanisms were initiated including discontinuous DRX (DDRX), continuous DRX (CDRX), twinning induced DRX (TDRX) and particle-stimulated nucleation (PSN). CDRX, which rendered the basal poles of newly-developed grains intensively close to that of parent grains, was dominating at higher strains. PSN, which induced randomly oriented new grains, contributed to the ever-increasing DRX degree for Er-modified metals with the increment of Er addition. It was deduced that the greatest PSN contribution in Er-alloyed alloys was achieved at strains around 1.6.