Low Anisotropy and High Ductility of Mg–Zn–Ce Alloy Achieved by the Optimized Thermo-mechanical Process

The effect of thermo-mechanical processThermo-mechanical process involving different cold rolling reductions along extrusion direction combined with annealing treatment on plastic deformationPlastic deformation and its anisotropyAnisotropy of Mg–1Zn–0.2Ce (wt%) alloy is studied. The results show that low anisotropy and exceptional ductility with the elongation up to 41.6% along rolling direction (RD) and 45.4% along perpendicular |direction (TD) are achieved by one-passed cold rolling reduction of 19% in combination with the annealing at 350 °C for 1 h. The microstructureMicrostructure characterizationCharacterization by electron backscattered diffraction indicates that the mechanism behind this is closely related to the preferred nucleationNucleation and growth of grains characterized by the TD textureTexture component during the annealing process, which contributes to the texture transformation from bimodal to ring-like type. The weakened anisotropyAnisotropy and improved ductility obtained by the optimized thermo-mechanical processThermo-mechanical process can significantly increase the plastic deformationPlastic deformation capacity and promote wider engineering applications of the alloys.