Repeated unidirectional bending （RUB） was carried out to improve the texture of commercial AZ31B magnesium alloy sheets. All specimens were prepared in the rolling direction. The forming limit diagrams （FLDs） of AZ31B magnesium alloy sheet were determined experimentally by conducting stretch-forming tests at room temperature, 100, 200 and 300 ℃ Compared with the as-received sheet, the lowest limited strain of AZ31B magnesium alloy sheet with tilted texture in the FLD increased by 79% at room temperature and 104% at 100 ℃. The texture also affected the extension of the forming limit curves （FLC） in the FLD. However, the FLCs of two kinds of sheets almost overlapped at temperature above 200 ℃. It can be concluded that the reduction of （0002） texture intensity is effective to the improvement of formability not only at room temperature but also at low-and-medium temperature. The effect of texture on FLDs becomes weak with increasing temperature.
The effect of the repeated unidirectional bending （RUB） process and annealing on the formability of magnesium alloy sheets was investigated. The RUB process and annealing treatments produce two effects on microstructure： grain coarsening and weakening of the texture. The sheet that underwent RUB and was annealed at 300 ℃exhibits the best formability owing to the reduction of the （0002） basal texture intensity, which results in low yield strength, large fracture elongation, small Lankford value （r-value） and large strain hardening exponent （n-value）. Compared with the as-received sheet, the coarse-grain sheet produced by RUB and annealing at 400 ℃ exhibits lower tensile properties but higher formability. The phenomenon is because the deformation twin enhanced by grain coarsening can accommodate the strain of thickness.
Electric product house of magnesium alloy sheet is usually obtained by warm stamping owing to its poor plasticity and formability at room temperature.The formability of AZ31B magnesium alloy sheet can be improved by repeated unidirectional bending(RUB)process through control of(0002)basal texture.Compared with as-received sheet,the Erichsen value(IE)of the sheet underwent RUB process increases to 5.90 from 3.53 at room temperature.It is also confirmed that cell phone houses could be stamped successfully in crank press with AZ31B magnesium alloy sheets underwent RUB process.It provides an alternative to the electronics industry in the application of magnesium alloys.
Repeatedly unidirectional bending(RUB) was applied to the magnesium alloy sheet to improve the basal texture.The effect of RUB temperature on resulting structure and room temperature properties was investigated.The texture components of the sheet undergoing RUB at recovery temperature were similar to those of the sheet undergoing RUB at room temperature(RT).As the RUB temperature increased to above recrystallization temperature,the texture components became more disperse and the pyramidal components increased.With the increase of RUB temperature,the grain size near the surface of the sheets undergoing RUB tended to grow up.When the sheets were processed by RUB at medium-high temperature followed by annealing at 533 K,the yield strength and fracture elongation were lower than those of the cold rolled sheet;however,the Erichsen value was slightly higher than that of the cold rolled sheet.The sheet undergoing RUB at RT followed by annealing at 533 K represented the best mechanical properties.
The mechanical properties of the AZ31B magnesium alloy sheet processed by repeated unidirectional bending (RUB) with a basal pole tilted in the rolling direction were systematically investigated at different temperatures. Compared with the as-received sheet exhibiting approximately the same average grain size, the fracture elongation increased while the proof stress decreased at room temperature. The initial texture had a significant influence on the mechanical properties at room temperature, while it showed a much weaker effect on the mechanical properties because of the activation of non-basal slips and initiation of dynamic recrystallization during deformation at elevated temperature.
