Influence of strain rate on dynamic recrystallization behavior of AZ61 magnesium alloy

The deformation and dynamic recrystallization behavior of magnesium alloy AZ61 were studied at 623 K and 3×10-5-3×10-1 s-1 by optical and SEM/EBSD metallographic observation. The results show that the flow stresses and the dynamic recrystallization behavior are dependent on strain rates. With the increase of the strain rate, the strain rate sensitivity becomes weaker for steady state stresses while the strain rate sensitivity for the peak stress decreases firstly then increases obviously. Increasing strain rate can accelerate the process of dynamic recrystallization and the development of coarse {1012} twins which are harmful to get a complete recrystallization structure leading to the decrease of fractional recrystallization. Bulging mechanism for dynamic recrystallization nucleation operates mainly at lower strain rate, whereas the dynamic recrystallization substructure developed at higher strain rate is characterized by twin intersections. The difference of deformation mode leads to the operation of different mechanisms of dynamic recrystallization nucleation.