Strain-Rate Sensitivities of Different Deformation Mechanisms in AZ31B Magnesium Alloy Sheet at Various Temperatures

The evolutions of strain-rate sensitivity (SRS) in two slip modes, basal and prismatic in AZ31B alloy sheet, were studied at different temperatures with both experiments and simulations. With increasing deformation temperature, the AZ31B alloy sheet becomes more sensitive to strain rate under rolling direction tension. Meanwhile, the anisotropy (r-value) also presents a clearly increasing trend with loading rate at temperatures above 150 °C. Numerical simulation results based on crystal plasticity suggest that the difference in SRSs is responsible for the strain-rate dependence of the r-value at high temperatures, which may present different evolution trends with temperature. The effects of strain rate on slip-mode activities and texture evolution are also further analyzed.