The microstructure evolution in AZ31B alloy during multi-pass cold rolling to a high reduction

The evolution of deformed microstructure of AZ31B magnesium alloy was investigated during cold rolling through multiple passes. The results show that the AZ31B plate, if appropriately trimmed, can be cold rolled to a high reduction of 95.3%. In this process, twinning plays an important role below 20.7% of the total rolling reduction, and the extension twinning is basically responsible for the formation of the basal texture. At high total rolling reduction, multi-slip is a predominant deformation mode to result in the refinement of the microstructure. The high rollability was explained in terms of multiple slips under multi-pass rolling with small ratio of the plate thickness to roller radius.