Small Scale Plastic Yielding of Mg Alloys Assessed with Nanoindentation

Abstract

The paper investigates deformations and plastic properties received from different material volumes and tests of magnesium samples. Small volume characteristics gained on single Mg crystals are compared to polycrystalline AZ31 alloy. Results of tests employing nanoindentation, focused ion beam milling and electron backscatter diffraction techniques are presented. Large differences were found between micro-beam testing and spherical indentation tests having the volume one order of magnitude apart. The plastic strength scaling factor was found 1.7 for the studied grain configurations and volumes.