,~ctu mrtuil. Vol. 30. pp. 1909 to 1919. 1982 Printed m Great Britm.

,411 rights reser>ed

Cop)tight

0001-6160 82. 101909-1lsO3.00~0 0 1982 Pergamon Press Ltd

DYNAMIC RECRYSTALLISATION AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF MICROSTRUCTURE DURING THE HIGH TEMPERATURE DEFORMATION OF MAGNESIUM
S. E. ION+. F. J. HUMPHREYS and S. H. WHITE
Departments of Metallurgy and Materials Science and Geology. Imperial College of Science and Technology. Prince Consort Road London 2W7 2BP. England
(Rrceiced

I8 June 1981: in recisedform

16 April 1981)

Abstract-Polycrystalline specimens of Mg-O.E%Al have been deformed in compression at elevated temperatures. and the microstructure and texture investigated. At temperatures above -425 K. deformation twinning is followed by dynamic recrystallisation. Optical and electron microscopy have shown that lattice rotations occur in the grain boundary regions, and that these are also the sites for recrystallisation. The mechanism of dynamic recrystallisation at temperatures between 425 and 600 K is shown not to involve significant high angle boundary migration. but to be similar to a mechanism reported for several minerals. At temperatures below _ 600 K. the deformation becomes macroscopically inhomogeneous at higher strains and is confined to shear zones, which are fine grained regions formed by dynamic recrystallisation and which are geometrically softer than the remainder of the specimen. R&urn&-Nous avons deform6 en compression des echaatillons polycristallins de Mg-O.S,AI a des temperatures tlevees et nous avons etudie la microstructure et la texture. Au temperatures superieures h environ 425 K. le maclage mecanique est suivi par une recristallisation dynamique. Les microscopies optique et tlectronique ont montre quil se produisait des rotations de reseau au voisinage des joints de grains. ce qui conduisait 6 des sites de recristallisation. Le mecanisme de la recristallisation dynamique aux temperatures comprises entre 425 et 600 K nimplique pas une migration importante des joints de forte d&orientation. mais il est semblable a un mecanisme que lon a observe dans plusieurs mineraux. Au temperatures legerement inferieures 6 60 K, la deformation devient macroscopiquement hetirogene aux fortes deformations et elle se limite a des zones de cisaillement qui sent des regions a petits grains form& par recristallisation dynamique et qui sont geomitriquement plus deuces que Ie reste de lechantillon. Zusammenfassung-Polykristalline Proben aus Mg-O.SAI wurden im Druckversuch bei hiiheren Tempemturen verformt. Danach wurden Mikrostruktur und Textur untersucht. Oberhalb von -425 K folgt dynamische Rekristallisation auf die Bildung von Verformungszwillingen. Nach den optischen und elektronenmikroskopischen Beobachtungen treten Gitterrotationen in den Korngrenzbereichen auf. in denen dann die Rekristallisation einsetzt. Die dynamische Rekristallisation zwischen 425 und 600 K enthait nur einen unbedeutenden Beitrag durch Wanderung von Grol3winkelkorngrenzen. ahnelt jedoch einem Mechanismus. der bei einigen Mineralen gefunden worden ist. Unterhalb von -600 K wird die Verformung bei griiDeren Dehnungen inhomogen. Sie ist beschrankt auf Scherzonen, die aus feinkiirnigen. durch Rekristallisation gebildeten Gebieten bestehen. Diese Gebiete sind geometrisch weicher als der Rest der Proben.

1. NTRODUCl-ION
Despite a large body of literature in the fields of hot working and creep of metals, the microstructural changes which occur during the high temperature deformation of polycrystalline metals, particularly at high strains, are not well understood. Although cubic metals have been extensively studied (e.g. [l-4]), the high temperature plasticity of non-cubic metals is poorly understood. The deformation of materials of lower symmetry to large strains at elevated temperatures is of particular interest to structural geologists, who have in recent years. made major advances in understanding the deformation of polycrystalline minerals using the micro-mechanism approach pioneered by physical metallurgists [S-7].

Differences in high temperature plasticity between metals and minerals are likely to arise from the effects of bonding, dislocation character, diffusivity and crystal symmetry, although the relative importance of these effects are not known. One purpose of this present investigation was to undertake a comparison of quartzite and magnesium and a preliminary study [8] has indicated surprising similarity between the two materials. The geological implications of the work will not, however, be discussed further in this paper, which is concerned solely with the mechanical behaviour of magnesium. 2. EXPERIMENTAL 2.1 Materials Preliminary experiments on pure magnesium revealed problems at higher temperatures of inhomogeneous grain growth and severe oxidation. It was METHODS

t Now at Technical Department, BNFL, Springfields Works, Preston, Lanes, England.

I909

1910

ION er nL:

DYNAWC RECRYSTALLISATION

OF IMAGNESIUM

2.4 Electron microscopy Transmission electron microscopy. generally at 500 kV was used extensively to investigate the deformed specimens. Disc specimens were profiled electrochemically in a PTFE holder using 5% HNOJ at 20 V, final thinning being carried out chemically in 30% HNOs, 70% CHJOH at 253 K.

3.1MECNANIC.U
EXTRUDED ROD ALlCNMENT OF BASAL PLANES

BEHACIOUR

3.1. Homogeneity ofdeformation

The deformation, as indicated by the macroscopic shape change was homogeneous for specimens deformed to strains of up to -0.25. However, specimens deformed below -600 K deformed inhomogeneously at higher strains, shearing preferentially along one or more bands oriented at -45 to the compression axis, as seen in Fig. 2. Although these features could be termed shear bands, this term is currently used to describe a rather different phenomenon in the metaI~urgica1 literature (see e.g. [I 1, 12]k in which the inhomogeneous deformation is imposed on an isotropic material by the constraints of testing. The regions of preferential deformation in the magnesium are microstructurally much more akin to the ductile shear zones known to structural geologists (see e.g. [13]) and this terminology is preferred.

Fig. 1. The orientation of the compression specimens with respect to that of the original extruded rod.

thus decided to work with a single phase magnesium alloy, Mg-Q.8 ~1% Al 0.~5~ Be (Magnox A180). Cylindrical compression specimens of aspect ratio 1: 1 were machined from 9/16 dia. extruded rod, and were annealed at 775 K for 24 h. This produced equiaxed grains of mean diameter -40O~~m. The specimens had a very strong preferred orientation with the basal planes lying parallel to the compression direction (extrusion direction), [9J, denoted orientation A. For comparison, some compression specimens were machined from the rod such that the compression axis was at 45 to the extrusion direction (orientation B). The relationship between the extruded rod, basal planes and specimen orientation is shown in Fig. I. 2.2 rCf ethnical testing Specimens were deformed in uniaxial compression in the temperature range 423-643 K, at strain rates of between - 10-6s-1 and _ 10-l s-, to strains of up to 90%. Specimens were quenched within 1 min of the end of the test. Microstructural investigations were mainly carried out on material deformed at ci w loss and preliminary experiments showed that the strain rates and temperatures were sufficiently low for there to be negligible annealing of the deformed structure before the specimen was quenched. 2.3 Optical microscopy and arien~a~ion~etermin~t~5n Deformed specimens were sectioned by spark erosion parallel to the compression axis and chemically polished in 30% HNOJ, 70% CHJOH. An aceticpicral etch [IO] was used to produce a birefringent film on the surface of the specimen. Colour metallography under plane polarized light, using a sensitive tint plate. enabled the traces of the basal planes to be locared and thus misorientations within and between grains could be investigated. Further information on textures was obtained by using a Schultz type X-ray goniometer (Philips) in reflection on samples sectioned parallel to the compression axis.

3.2 Stress-strain curves Stress-strain curves were calculated on the assumption that deformation was homogeneous. Thus below 6OOK accurate curves could not be obtained at strains above -025. Figure 3 shows representative stress-strain data for specimens of the two orientations tested, and the microstructural development during the deformation is indicated on Fig. 3a. Because of the inhomogeneity of deformation at the lower temperatures, a steady state flow stress following the peak stress could not be measured. However, at temperatures above 600 K. there were indications that the flow stress dropped to a steady state, as is found in e.g. copper and nickel [2]. The peak stress is seen to be strongly temperature dependent, and to depend also on the initial orientation of rhe specimen. Specimens of orientation A (Fig. 3a) have the basal planes parallel to the compression axis (Fig. If, and therefore basal slip, the predominant slip mode at tow temperatures is not favoured. The rapid initiai work hardening in such specimens is attributable to (lOT2j twinning which reorients the basal planes such that

423 K

503K

533

573K

593

Fig. 2. Effect of temperature on the macroscopic deformation behaviour. Shadowgraphs of specimens of orientation
A, deformed SS% show that deformation becoming more homogeneous as the temperature of testing is raised,

and changes of S:ructur.z and properties art not as marked. For this reason. the microstructura1 results
presented in this paper are confined to spew--imens of orientation ,A. The development of micrtistructure during the

deformation will be discussed separately for the cases where the macroscopic shape change of the specimen is homogeneous or inhomogeneous. 1. HOMOGENEOUS DEFOR~i.~T-TON

Strain

Fig. ?.(a). Stress-strain behaviour of samples of orientation A. The onset of the main microstructural features is indicated by the letters: A = extensive twinning; B = a high percentage of voids at triple points and along boundaries where the shear stress is high: C = small amounts of recrystallisation in localised retions of heterogeneous high strain. leading to the formatton of narrow shear zones; D = extensive twinning: E = dynamic rtqstatlisation at the old grain boundaries: F = development of a duplex microstructure consisting of old grains surrounded by layers of small recrystallised grains: G = shear zone deveiopment; H = extensive grain boundary buiging and migration leading to recrystailisation: i = maintenance of a steady state microstructure by reocated dynamic recrystallisation.

f
0 0.1

0.2

0.4 0.3 Strain

0.5

0.6

0.7

showed that tht undea strong axial or wire texture and that during deformation. this symmetry was preserved, Thus instead of presenting the data as pole figures, it is more convenient to plot the number of planes of a given orientation (corrected S-ray intensity, I) against 4. the angle between the compression axis and the basal plane. The starting texture. Fig. 4, shows the stron: alignment of the basal planes parallel to the compression axis. The effect of strain on the development of texture at different temperatures is shown in a similar manner in Fig. 5. The texture is seen to alter with strain in two stages. It can be seen that for ah the temperatures investigated there is a reorientation of the basal planes at low strains from (I _ 0 to I#I_ 30.. At 533 K, for which temperature the data are most oomplete. the reorientation is detectable at strains of as low as IS?, and by E = lo,, the reorientation is essentially complete. Following this reorientation, and to some extent overlapping with it, there is a gradual reorientation to lower values of #I (see Fig. 5c). Comparison of data at 573 and 643 K. at which temperatures large homogeneous strains are obtainable, shows that at the higher temperature, the second reorientation results in an almost random texture.
formed specimens possessed

Preliminary

experiments

4.2 Jficrostructnre Microstructural changes were followed by means of optical, transmission and scanning electron microscopy. The relationship between the microstructural changes and the stress-strain curves is summarized in Fig. 3.

Fig. 3.(b) Stress-strain curves of samples of orientation B.

they are approximately perpendicular to the compression axis, which is again unfavourable for slip. The flow stress rises until softening by dynamic recrystaliisation occurs. At higher temperatures, softening of non basal shp systems causes a lowering of the peak stress. In specimens of orientation B (Fig. 3b) many grains are oriented favourabiy for basal slip. leading to a lower peak stress and moving the peak to higher strains. Microstructural work to be described in detail in the next sections has shown that similar deformation processes occur in specimens of both orientations. In the specimens unfavourably oriented for slip (A) the various deformation mechanisms tend to occur sequentially, resulting in sharp changes of flow stress. microstructure and texture, whereas in the specimens of orientation B the mechanisms overlap

80
2

$0

PO

30

43

59 +

53

7:

cm

93

Angle

betwee,

!Jcsor

,me

cm!

::w3it35

:-

xi3

Fig. 4. Distribution

of basal plane orientations formed spceimens.

in unde-

I?12

ION et 01.: DYXi.AhiIC RECRYSThLLISATION

OF XIAGSESIU&l

8.
6 t ... .....

X Strain . . . .. . 0

-22

% Strain

Fig. 6. Optical micrograph of specimen deformed Y; at 53 K showing extensive [lOi?] twinning. t.The compression axis is verticai in all optical micr0graphs.J

IO

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

# 8
6. I 4 2 ..--._
I

-St

_ ..

._

% Strain . . . . . . (-J m-s_ CJ 55

\
IO

:,
\ : b...
20

573K
30 40 (P JO 60 70 80 90

% Strain . . . .. 0

10

20

30

40 +

50

60

m.

60

90

development discussed in section 4.1. Although there was littfe microstructurai evidence of twinning at 643 K, the texture results (Fig. 5d) indicate that rapid and complete twinning of the sample does indeed occur. At tem~ratures of 533 K and above, apart from this initial reorientation of the grains, twinning appears to play no further role in the subsequent deformation processes. On deformation at 423 K the initial :lOTZ: twinning was follourd by a small amount of :lOil] - flOT2j double twinning [ IJ]. These characteristically thin twins. shown in Fig. 7 have been found previously in magnesium crystals unfavourab~y oriented for basal slip. after deformation at similar temperatures [ 151. 4.2.2 Void formrion. At temperatures of deformation below 593 K, some valid formation occurred. in general agreement with previous work [16,17]. The voids formed preferentially at triple points and at those grain boundaries along which there was a high shear stress. Although void formation of this type is often associated with grain boundary sliding [IS], experiments to be described in section 42.3 have not produced any evidence of significant grain boundary

Fig. S.fa-dt. The effect of strain and temperature of deformation on the orientation of the basal planes.

4.2.1 T}~i~ni~~. Twinning was observed to occur during the initial stages of deformation. The twins were identified as (IOrZj. type. On formation. the twins had tbe characteristic lenticular morphology (Fig. 6), and during subsequent straining. sideways growth of the twinned plates occurred, until the twins had entirely consumed the original grains, thus resulting in an equiaxed grain structure almost identical in appearance to that of the undeformed material (see e.g. Fig. 9). The [lOi?) twinning reorients the basal plane by 86.3 and thus the complete twinning of the specimens is consistent with the first stage of texture

Fig. 7. 0J)tical _micrograph showing fine twins produced by [IO1 I]-[IO121 double tuinning at 43 K (6 = 0.55).

At 423 Ii;, some voids were also obsert;ed along :lOif : - ; lOi2) twins. Wonsiewin and Backofen [I j] have suggested that this is due to the intense local stresses resulting from the double twinning process. 42.3 Dynamic rrcrysrtrllisurion. Particular attention has been paid to the importance of dynamic tecrystailisation in the development of &hemicrostructure. As is indicated in Fig. 3a, new grains were formed during deformation at all the temperatures investigated ashen the flow stress was near its peak value. In general. the new grains formed at the old gram b~~nd~r~es {Fig. 9). although at 423 K. some recrystatlisation of the ;toil) - ;lOi2: twins occurred, as has been reported previously [I 51. Fig. 8. Scanning electron rn~~ro~apb of grain boundary The recrystalhsed grain size at the peak stress void in a specimen deformed at ~33 K. The specimen was deformed Y,,. the surface was ground and polished, and depended strongly on temperature, as is generally the specimen was deformed a further 9Y;,. found for dynamic recrystallisation, although the recrystal&d grain size was not strongly affected by strain. The size of the new grains is shown in Table 1. In many investigations of dynamic re~r~stailisat~on, a unique relationship is found between the peak or the steady state Row stress fai and the recrystallised grain size (L?)[4,18], such as D = Ao-. However in the presenf work, large changes in the flow stress occurred without corresponding alterations in grain size, as can be seen from fable 2. A comparison of specimens of type A and B deformed to the higher strains shows that the larger grains are formed at the higher stress. Although the data are limited. it is clear that no simple relationship between grain size and stress exists. This is most probably a consequence of Fig. 9. Optical micrograph showing dynamic recrystailisthe slip geometry and the heterogeneity of the microation 31 old grain boundaries in a specimen deformed I6*;, structure as discussed in the next section. The internal at 573 h. stress and strain rate in the specimen are not homogeneous, and thus the reIationship between the macsliding, Scanning electron microscopy of the voids roscopically applied stress and that at a point within (Fig. 8) has revealed a dimpled fracture surface. conthe specimen is not easily determined. sistent with a process of ductile tearing in the boundThe most detailed investigation of dynamic recrysary region. tallisation was made at 533 K and the deveiopment of

Table 1. Mcrostructural

parameters in specimens of orientation A 423K 533 K 643 K

Deformation temperature Peak stress t?IIPa) (2 ill 10-s s-t) Strain to peak stress (i6) Xew grain size at peak stress fum) Subgrain size in old grains core mantle firmi Width of mantle f&m)

12.75 17 to 4 3 10

9.0 16 20 3 6 50

2.1 6 60 2.5 >XO~rn

Table 2. Dependence of recqsraiiised grain size on stress in specimens deformed at 533 K Specimen orientation Strain 9, Flow stress iMPal Grain size @rn)

Fig. 10. Optical micrograph showing the development of

wide bands of small grains at 533 K (E = 0.45).

microstructure with increasing strain is discussed below. Wse oi the cotour metaltographic technique has enabled quantitative information to be obtained about the orientation of the dynam~caliy recrystallised grains such as those in Fig. 9. It was found that the basal planes in grains Formed at old grain boundaries which were either parallel to or perpendicular to the compression direction were misoriented by up to 10 from the old grains. whilst those grains formed at boundaries nearly parallel to the planes of maximum shear stress were misoriented by up to 45 from the old grains. On further straining, more grains formed at these inciined boundaries than at other sites {Fig. 10), leading to wide bands of new grains inclined at -45 to the compression axis. The shape of the old grains did not reffect the overa strain of the samples. suggesting that the deformation was being accommodated mainly in the grain boundary regions. Optical microscopy also showed lattice rotation at the old grain boundaries in the same sense as the misorientation of the new grains from the old.

Transmission electron microscopy confirmed the heterogeneity of the structure. The centres of the old grains (core) were characterized by planar tangled arrays of dislocations lying parallel to the basal plane. Analysis showed these dislocations to have the a Burgers vector (ll?O). Poorly developed sub boundaries perpendicular to the basal planes were generally found to be tilt boundaries comprising a dislocations. As shown in Fig. II. near the old grain boundaries [mantle region), the subgrains were more equiaxed, and dislocations of the c + a (TTZ3) as wet1 as the a Burgers vector were found. The mantle retions near aid grain boundaries inclined to the compression axis showed large lattice rotations as can be seen in Fiy. 12. In this micrograph, progressive rotations of the basal planes in the mantle can be clearly seen. Further confirmation of the heterogeneity of deformations within the grains was obtained by an examination of surface markings on specimens prepared as described below. A flat surface was mechanically ground and polished (1 ym finish) on samples prestrained 45, at 533 K. A gold grid was then evaporated onto each sample which was then deformed a further 15?,. Typical results are shown in Fig. 13. It can be seen that the markers. either the gold grid or the scratches. were relatively undeformed in the grain centres, but severely sheared in the vicinity of the boundaries. The results confirm those obtained by optical and electron microscopy discussed earlier. The markers did not show any planar offsets at the boundaries as would have been expected if grain boundary sliding was occurring. The markers were always found to be continuous across the boundaries, although heavify distorted. From the mechanical data, X-ray and metatfographic results, the deformation mode is seen to be strongly dependent on both temperature and strain. On the basis of these results. Fig. I-1 summarises the deformation behaviour for specimens initially oriented unfavourably for slip. and although incomplete and oversimplified, it does illustrate the

Fig. Ii. Transmission electron micrograph showing the change of dislocation structure from the core of the old grains to the mantle (E = 0.16, T = 533 K).

ION a

d.:

DiN.U4IC

RECRYSTXLLISATION

OF SfhCNESIt.lf

1915

Fig. 12. Electron micrograph illustrating the progressive lattice bending near an old grain bound&>. The specimen has been sectioned parallel to the compression axis and the basal planes (arroued) whick are pendicular to the thin foil. can be seen to bend as the old grain boundary (right hand side CI micrograph) is approached. Dislocations are present in the recrystallised grains A, 3. C. but are mai@ out of contrast in X and B (E = 0.16, T = 533 K).

complexity of the deformation within the range of temperatures and strains studied. 3.3 Disaasion It is generally agreed that dynamic recrystallisation
occws

most readily in those materials where dynamic recovery is slow, e.g. in materials of medium or low stacking htult energy such as copper, nickel and aus-

tenitic steels and a recent review by Seliars [I] has revealed little or no evidence for dynamic tscrystallisation in aluminium. zinc. rnagn~siLlrn. tin or ferritic steels. (High purity x-iron would appear to be an exception [23].) The reported values of stacking fault energy in magnesium are high, similar to those of aluminium [19] and therefore in terms of this parameter and its effect on recovery, magnesium might

be expected to soften by dynamic recovery. rather than recrystalli~tion. The present \vork. however, shows that dynamic recrystailisation is inded important during the high temperature deformation of magnesium and this is ascribed to the constraints imposed by the lack of easily activated s&p systems rather than to the effect of stacking fauit energy. Figure 16 shows data for the critical resolved shear stress of various slip systems in pure magnesium. It can be seen that at temperatures belovv - 6ir71 K, basal slip, (~1~ (ll?Oo) is much the easiest. Hoatver, this provides only two independent slip s>stenx [NJ. As discussed by Groves and Kelly [25] and Teyzrt [XJ, the operation of prismatic a slip. ;tO~O) :::$:3)) still does not provide the five independent sii~ systems necessary for a polycrystalline specimen IO deform

1016

ION LZ itf.: DYNAMIC RECRYSTALLISATION

OF MAGNESILM

IO

7
* . ,Prism slip \ {Gsf.2f)

IOJ

CRSS (g mm-1

IO2

iT Basal slip (ref. 22 f

200

400 Temperature,

600 K

800

Fig. 15. The CRSS for various slip syt:ms magnesium.

in pure

Fig. 13. Surface markings on specimens deformed ar 533 K, showing localiscd deformation in the grain boundary regions. (a) Optical micrograph (NormarM. (b) SE&l

(secondary electron image).

sociated with ~nter~ranular fracture. Ths observations of the present work show that the region of distortion in the vicinity of the grain boundary is associated with the operation of non basal slip s>stems and dis-

homogeneous1~. To fulfill this condition. c + a dislocations of the second order pyramidal system { 1 122; (1153) are required and such slip has only been comparatively identified recently magnein sium (20,27]. During the deformation of poiy~rystalIine magnesium at room temperature, it has been observed [ZS, 291 that some very localized shearing occurs at grain boundaries, although this is often as-

Fig. 14. Semi-quantitative diagram summarizing the deformation behaviour as a function of tsmperaturs and strain.

Fig. 16. Schematic diagram of deformation

recrystailisation

and dynamic in the grain boundary regions.

locations

of c t a Burgers vector, and that as the temperature of deformation is increased and the CRSS for such slip decreases marked@ (Fig. 15) the width of the rotated mantle region increases (Table 1). In the temperature range 4?5--6CM K, a significant amount of plastic strain is acccotnmodated in the mantle regions, the cores of the grains being relatively undeformed. At temperatures above -@OK, the CRSS for the non basal s&p systems has decreased to such an extent that the mantles extend throughout the grains and microscopically homogeneous deformation occurs with the operation of the five independent slip systems required by von Mises. In the temperature range 45-6OOK, it is postulated that minor subgrain movements. i.e. dynamic recovery processes, within the severely distorted boundary regions lead to the formation of high angle grain boundaries and therefore of recognisable new grains without further significant changes in orientation. There is little direct evidence concerning the mechanisms of nucleation of dynamic recrystallisation in cubic metals and it has been suggested that new grains are formed by strain induced grain boundary migration. caused by differences in dislocation density across the original grain boundaries [-?A]. a mechanism known to occur during the static anneahng of cold rtorked metals. The present work shows that magnesium does not dynamically recrystallise in this way. The optical, TEM and X-ray evidence suggests that the siting, size and orientation of the new grains is consistent with their formation from severely rotated regions adjacent to the grain boundaries. This process is similar in many respects to that termed rotation recrystallisation, reviewed by White [313 and Poirier and Guillo@ [30], which occurs in many minerals. The model proposed to explain the behaviour of magnesium in the temperature range 42%OOK is shown schematically in Fig. 16. (a) Grains are initially oriented with their basal slip planes approximately parallel to the compression axis.

lb) Twinning on {lOT2~ reorients the grains JO that basal planes are now almost perpendicufar to the compression axis. (c) Aithough the Schmid factor for basal slip is small, it is still favoured. Lattice rotations at the grain boundaries (c.f. kinking), enable substantial shortening of the specimen to occur. Although in the simple case sketched, this can be achieved by a dislocations. in general other FIqers vectors W be required also. (d) As lattice rotation proceeds, dynamic recovery results in the geometrically necessary dislocations forming well defined subgrains in the mantle regions-see Figs II and 12. (e) Small amounts of sub boundary migration. driven by the locally high stored energy. lead LOcoalescence of boundaries and the formation of high angle grain boundaries, i.e. to dynamic recrysrallisation, with little or no further change in orientarion. The deformation process described above can provide only a limited strain, particularly if. 1s at low t~m~ratures (Table 1) the mantle width is small. On further straining at temperatures belou _ 600 K. macroscopically inhomogeneous &formation via ductile shear zones follows and this is discussed in the following section.

As can be seen from Figs 2 and 1-Aat temperatures below %600 K. specimens begin to deform inhomogeneously above a critical strain. which decreases as the temperature is lowered. One or more shear zones, oriented at -45 to the compression axis propagate through the specimen, and thereafter plastic Aow occurs almost solely within these zones. The structure of the zones has been investigated and is discussed below, all specimens being deformed at 533 K unless described otherwise.

Fig. 17. Distribution of basal plane orientations in a sample containing a wrll developed shear zone at 533 K (see inset). The broad distribution recorded from the total sample was found to be made up of two components (ii from the area outside the shear zone 01. (ii) from the shear zone only (Xl.

X-ray investigations of texture were made on a sample deformed at 533 K, which exhibited a broad shear zone after a compressive strain of 0.94. The specimen was sectioned along a plane containing the compression axis and the shear direction. The texture of the sample as a whole, and of specimens taken from the centre of the shear zone (X) and the region away from the shear zone (Y) were determined, and are shown in Fig. 17. The overall texture has two components. In the shear zone. the basal planes are oriented approximately parallel to the shear zone, whereas in the rest of the specimen the pianes are more nearly parallel to the compression atis. These components account for the diffuse nature of the basal plane distributions over the specimen as a whole.

The shear zones comprised small equiaxed grains. Figure 15 shows such a zone and the interface with

Fig. IS. Optical micrograph showing a shear zone developed at 533 K IE = 0.3).

the remainder of the specimen which has the bimodal grain size distribution discussed in section 4.2. It can be seen in Fig. 18 that grains of similar contrast (orientation) are grouped in bands of width - 300 blrn parallei to the main shear direction. The cofour metallography tcehnique enabled a detailed examination of the distribution of basal plane orientations to be undertaken in these regions. Within the lighr bands, which were the major component of the shear zone. the grain size was 20 pm. These grains were found to occur in clusters of 4-5 grains, the clusters being misoriented by 74 and the grains within a cluster being less misoriented. On average, the basal planes of the grains in the light bands were oriented at 52 i: 8 to the compression axis (cf. region X in Fig. 17). The grains in the darker bands were of mean diameter 30pm and had a greater spread of o~entations, their basal pianes generally lying within 20 of the compression plane. Electron microscopy confirmed the optical results and showed that the grains within the shear zone were mainly bounded by basal or prism planes and that the dislocations in the boundaries and within the grains were mainly of a Burgers vector. The overall shear zone is thus seen to comprise a group of individual bands or zones, each of width -300~ containing grains whose basal planes are oriented 40-60 from the compression axis, separated by regions whose orientation is closer to that of the remainder of the specimen. At 423 K, the individual shear zones were narrow (-20 pm) containing fine equiaxed grains of diameter < IO,um as shown in Fig. 19. However, at this temperature there was also considerable voiding along the shear zones. leading in some instances to shear fracture along the zone. 5.3 The for~atjun~

inate from these regions. The process is shown schematically in Fig. 20. The small recrystalhsed grains formed at the old grain boundaries (Fig. 20a) are favourably oriented for basal slip. but because of constraints imposed by adjacent pains, e.g. at A and B, shear along A3 cannot sasilf occur. How-ever. the recrystallised bands broaden with increasing strain, and regions such as AB and CD will tend to merge to provide a path of easy slip through the specimen (Fig. 2Ob). At the tips of these bands. there will be high IocaI stresses, which wili promote local srrain and recrystalIisation (Fig. 20~). Once a clear path for shear is produced through the specimen. deformation will be concentrated in this region. thus producing a shear zone. At lower temperatures where the recrystallised bands are smaller. the local stress concentrations at the tips of the bands wiil be relieved in some instances by void formation during the formation of the shear zones. 5.4 Deformation within the shear zones The shear zones are geometrically softer than the old grains, and thus basal slip is like@ to be the dominant mechanism of deFo~ation. However the

of shtw zonrs

There is a strong microstructural simiktrity between the shear zones and the dynamically recrystallised regions formed at lower strains around the old grains (Fig. 10) and it is suggested that the sheat-zones orig-

Fig. IY. Narrow shear zones at 423 R if = O.jj).

ION et al.:

DYNAMIC

RECRYSTALLISATION

OF MAGNESIUM

1919

(mantle) regions adjacent to gram boundaries, a mechanism similar to that previously reported for minerals. 4. Macroscopically inhomogeneous deformation occurring at higher strains on deformation below 600 K follows the formation of fine grained geometrically soft shear zones by dynamic recrystallisation.

REFERENCES
I. H. J. McQueen and J. J. Jonas. In Trrarise on :Lfaterials Science and Technology (edited by R. J. Arse-

Fig. 20. Schematic diagram illustrating the formation of a shear zone from the bands of recrystallised grains. grains in the shear zone are equiaxed and thus do not

reflect the overall strain in the region. The possibility should be considered that the deformation mechanism in the shear zone is similar to that in super plastic materials where grain boundary sliding provides a major contribution. However, there are a number of factors that make this unlikely. Firstly, the sharp texture is not consistent with such a process. Secondly, as the boundaries are predominantly of low angle, sliding is unlikely. Thirdly, pre-polished specimens subsequently deformed (see section 4.2.3) showed no evidence of boundary sliding. Thus we conclude that deformation within the shear zones occurs by dislocation motion, predominantly on basal plane systems, the stored energy being lowered by dynamic recovery and recrystallisation. The grain size within the zones is somewhat smaller than in the recrystallised regions around the old grains and this is explainable by the higher strain rate in the shear zones, producing a finer structure. 6. CONCLUSIONS I. A microstructural investigation of POlyCrYStalline Mg-O.8% Al, deformed in compression at elevated temperatures, has shown that dynamic recrystallisation occurs at temperatures above -425 K. 2. Dynamic recrystallisation has been found to be a consequence of the relative difficulty of operating non-basal slip systems below 600 K. 3. The mechanism of dynamic recrystallisation involves dynamic polygonisation of rotated lattice

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