Study on rheological behavior and microstructural evolution of Al-6Mg-0.4Mn-0.15Sc-0.1Zr alloy by isothermal compression

Abstract The effects of trace amounts of Sc/Zr on rheological properties and microstructural evolution of the Al-6Mg-0.4Mn-0.15Sc-0.1Zr alloy under different deformation conditions were studied by isothermal compression tests at deformation temperatures of 280 °C ∼ 460 °C and strain rates of 0.001 ∼ 10 s −1 . A constitutive model based on the hyperbolic sine function was established. The dependence of the flow stress on strain, strain rate, and deformation temperature was described. Using experimental data and dynamic material model, machining diagrams of the alloy with strains of 0.3 and 0.5 were obtained, and the hot workability of the alloy was verified. The results showed that the deformation temperature and strain rate had significant effects on the deformation behavior of the alloy. The flow stress of the alloy increased with the increase in strain rate and decreased with the increase in deformation temperature. Under high-temperature and low-strain-rate conditions, the alloy tended to undergo dynamic recrystallization, and the volume fraction and grain size increased with the increase in deformation temperature and the decrease in strain rate. Based on the analysis of the microstructural evolution, the construction of the machining diagram, and the solution of the rheological constitutive equation, suitable values of the deformation temperature were determined to be 380 °C ~ 460 °C. Moreover, suitable values of the strain rate were determined to be 0.001 and 0.3 s −1 . The deformation activation energy of 161.28 kJ mol −1 was obtained.