2001 Volume 42 Issue 7 Pages 1177-1181
Magnesium alloys are generally brittle owing to their HCP structure. In this study, improvement of tensile mechanical properties under dynamic loading has been demonstrated for a pure magnesium and a ZK60 magnesium alloy. The solution-treated ZK60 alloy exhibits yielding at a dynamic strain rate of 1.8×103 s−1, which was not observed in a pure magnesium. The yield stress of the ZK60 alloy increases at the dynamic strain rate with a similar slope of Hall-Petch relation at a quasi-static strain rate. Enhancement of ductility can be also achieved by refining grain structures for the ZK60 alloy. The high ductility of the fine-grained alloy is due to the absence of macroscopic cracking at mechanical twin boundaries. It is found that the absorption energy per weight in the fine-grained ZK60 is twice higher than that of high strength aluminum alloys.