Effect of thermomechanical treatment on microstructure and hardness behavior of AZ63 magnesium alloy

Due to their high specifc strength and low density, magnesium alloys are widely used in many weight-saving applications. This research is aimed at investigating the microstructure and hardness of commercial AZ63 alloy specimens subjected to two diferent thermomechanical treatments (TMTs). For the first TMT, after solution treated at the temperature of 380 ℃ for 20 h, AZ63 alloy specimens were 5% cold worked by rolling process followed by ageing at the temperatures of 150 ℃ and 250 ℃ for 3, 9 and 25 h. In the second TMT, the specimens were solution treated at the temperature of 380 ℃ for 20 h, underwent 2% cold worked and quenched in water of 0 ℃. Half of the specimens were then 2% cold worked whilst the rest were rolled to 8% cold worked. All the specimens were then aged at the temperatures of 150 ℃ and 250 ℃ for 3, 9 and 25 h. Optical microscope was used to analyze the microstructures of the specimens. Hardness test was too conducted to measure the effect of the treatments on the specimens. Results show that two-step aging enhances the hardness of the specimens due to the distribution of the Beta-phase (Mg₁₇Al₁₂) in the alloy matrix. The results also reveal that, the best hardness from the first TMT was produced by specimen that was pre-aged at 150 ℃ whereas, in the second TMT, aging at 250 ℃　exhibited the best hardness values.