Materials Science Forum, Vol.419-4, 321-326, 2003
Evaluation of press formability in magnesium alloy
A press formability of magnesium alloy sheet cannot be evaluated by only general characteristics in tensile test; tensile strength, elongation n-value and r-value. For example, AZ31-alloy elongates about 20% in room temperature but breaks easily at shallow stage in deep drawing, which is caused by little local elongation (local necking). Crystallographic restriction of slip deformation in this alloy produces high strength, which almost equal to macroscopic fracture strength. In press forming, the bending under high tension requires a large deformability. A great difference in the deformability between AZ31 magnesium alloy and a strain hardened A1100 Aluminum (only 5% in elongation) is shown by static bending test with V-notch. In a rolled plate of AZ31, a crack is produced by stress concentration and propagates with reduced load at all testing temperature up to 453K. In contrast, the point of notch in A1100 is dulled by local plastic deformation with held load in a level through the bending process. In resent coil strip of AZ31, which consists of fine grains under half of usual rolled plate, the point of notch is dulled above 413K without cracking, however, the drawability is not always well at a forming rate near by productive speed.
Keywords:magnesium alloy;press formability;local elongation;deformability;notch sensibility;drawability;grain size