Effects of annealing treatment on the ratcheting behavior of extruded AZ31B magnesium alloy under asymmetrical uniaxial cyclic loading

The objective of this investigation is to study the effects of annealing treatment on the ratcheting behavior of extruded AZ31B magnesium alloy. First, the microstructures and monotonic tensile properties of the extruded and annealed alloys were assessed. The results showed that the grain size increased slightly with increasing annealing time until an annealing time of 6 h after which abnormal grain growth happened. Accordingly, the ultimate tensile strength of the Mg alloy decreased with increasing annealing time, while the tensile yield strength and elongation percentage of the Mg alloy increased with annealing time until the annealing time reached 2 h. The cyclic softening/hardening behavior of the annealed AZ31B Mg alloy was similar to that of the extruded alloy: first an apparent cyclic softening was observed, then a cyclic hardening occurred, and finally a stable state was reached. The annealing treatment delayed the occurrence of the cyclic hardening. It was also shown that the effects of the annealing time on the ratcheting strain of the Mg alloy depended of the loading path.