Cryogenic deformation behavior of a dual-phase Mg-Li alloy investigated by in-situ neutron diffraction

Gong, W.   ; Gholizadeh, R.*; Kawasaki, Takuro   ; Aizawa, Kazuya  ; Harjo, S.   

Mg and its alloys generally exist as a single hcp crystal structure at room temperature. It is widely recognized that the application of Mg alloys is hindered by their limited formability at room temperature, primarily attributable to the scarcity of readily activated deformation modes within the hcp phase. The addition of Li in Mg alloy can stable the bcc phase at room temperature, and these dual-phase (hcp+bcc) Mg-Li alloys exhibit excellent formability. The Li-enriched bcc phase has been frequently considered as the origin for improving formability. However, these Mg-Li alloys show poor work-hardening ability and the resultant low strength at room temperature. Considering that the dislocation recovery can be suppressed by decreasing the deformation temperature and the activity of deformation mode may be changed with temperature, we investigated the deformation behavior of a commercial LZ91 magnesium alloy at cryogenic temperatures using in-situ neutron diffraction.