Influence of loading direction on mechanical behavior, microstructure characteristic and texture evolution of WE43-T4 magnesium alloy undergoing uniaxial compression

To elucidate the influence of loading direction on deformation behavior of WE43-T4 magnesium (Mg) alloy, compressive tests, optical microstructure (OM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) characterizations and Schmid factor (SF) analysis have been conducted in the present study. All samples (0° sample, 45° sample and 90° sample) exhibit minor plastic anisotropy during uniaxial compression at room temperature. The difference about 0.2% proof yield stress is closely related to various activities of prismatic slip, {10−12} extension twinning (ET) and {11−21} ET, while the difference about strain hardening response is attributable to various activities of basal slip. The solid solution of Y element strengthens the critical resolved shear stress of {10−12} ET harder than that of {11−21} ET, resulting in their synchronous activation in 8%-deformed samples. The SF values for {10−12} ET and {11−21} ET possess a decreasing tendency, resulting in a decreasing tendency about their activities from 0° sample to 90° sample. These activated ETs are mainly responsible for the observed texture with different degrees of concentration for c-axes of most grains towards compression direction. In these 20%-deformed samples, the formation of tilted basal texture is mainly associated with the activities of pyramidal slip and {10−11}-{10−12} double twinning.