The effect of microstructure on damage and fracture in AZ31B and ZEK100 magnesium alloys

Room temperature fracture during tensile deformation has been studied in two commercial wrought magnesium alloys, namely AZ31B and ZEK100. As a consequence of differences in texture and grain size the deformation modes of these materials differ significantly. This leads to significant differences is the kind of damage that results prior to fracture as evidenced by a combination of traditional metallography and x-ray computed tomography (XCT). …