Microstructure, texture and mechanical properties of a Mg– Gd–Nd alloy under different thermo-mechanical treatments

In current work, the influences of hot extrusion and rolling treatments on the microstructure and texture developments, as well as mechanical properties of Mg–1.5Gd– 1.5Nd (wt.%) alloy were investigated. It was shown that the alloy underwent completely dynamic recrystallization during thermal-mechanical processing, resulting in fine equiaxial grain structure. Especially for the hot rolling treatment that heavy deformation led to even smaller grain size of the alloy. Unlike the strong basal textures obtained in conventional Mg alloy sheets, the extruded and rolled alloy sheets both revealed modified basal texture with tilt of basal poles towards extrusion/rolling direction. Through orientation distribution function (ODF) analysis, the textures were deeply analyzed and two types of rare earth textures were obtained in the extruded and rolled alloy sheets. The variations in microstructure and texture played an important role in the mechanical properties, and also planar anisotropies of the alloy sheets.