Hot Compression Deformation and Activation Energy of Nanohybrid-Reinforced AZ80 Magnesium Matrix Composite

Abstract

The hot deformation test of the nano silicon carbide (nano-SiC) and carbon nano tubes (CNT) hybrid-reinforced AZ80 matrix composite was performed at compression temperatures of 300–450 °C and strain rates of 0.0001–1 s−1. It could be observed that the flow stress of the nanocomposite rose with the reduction of deformation temperature and the increase of strain rate. The hot deformation behaviors of the composite could be described by the sine-hyperbolic Arrhenius equation, and deformation activation energy (Q) was calculated to be 157.8 kJ/mol. The Q values of the extruded nanohybrid/AZ80 composite in this study and other similar studies on extruded AZ80 alloys were compared in order to analyze the effect of the addition of reinforcement, and the effects of deformation conditions on activation energy were analyzed. Finally, the compression microstructure in an unstable condition was carefully analyzed, and results indicated that the phenomenon of local instability was easy to occur at the compression specimen of the nanohybrid/AZ80 composite under deformation conditions of low temperature with high strain rate (300 °C, 0.1–0.01 s−1), and high temperature with low strain rate (450 °C, 0.0001 s−1).