Superplastic characteristics and forming of LZ91 Mg-Li alloy sheet

Abstract

Magnesium-lithium (Mg-Li) alloys, due to their high specific strength, have great potential in the modern aviation industry. The superplastic characteristics, microstructure evolution, mechanical properties, and forming process of LZ91 Mg-Li alloys at 200°C–300°C were studied in this paper. Tensile tests show that the optimal elongation of tensile specimens is 812.6% at 300°C under a strain rate of 5 × 10−4 s−1. The flow stress of the material increases with strain during the high-temperature tensile testing due to the grain coarsening . Meanwhile, low dislocation densities were observed during tension, which is not sufficient for dynamic recrystallisation to occur. The finite element method is used to investigate the forming schemes of a narrow-mouth box component. Finally, this component was manufactured by the powder pressure bulging process at 300°C experimentally.