Effect of Mg content on microstructure, texture and strength of severely equal channel angular pressed aluminium-magnesium alloys

Equal channel angular pressing was carried out on Al–Mg alloys to study the effect of Mg addition on the microstructure, texture and strength after severe plastic deformation by 8 passes of equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) through route Bc. The increase in Mg content enhanced the propensity of continuous dynamic recrystallization and simultaneously decreased the average grain size of the alloy. The microstructure and local texture was heterogeneous across the billet thickness for all the samples, irrespective of composition. All the samples showed a shear-type bulk texture generally observed in face-centred cubic metals with strong BE/‾BE components. The weakening of the texture with increase in Mg content is attributed to the substructure evolution during the ECAP process. The grain size and dislocation density have been determined by X-ray diffraction line profile analysis. The experimentally determined yield strength of the ultrafine grained samples can be explained by a combination of solid solution, dislocation and grain size strengthening, the latter being predominant.