This work aims to investigate whether accumulative roll bonding (ARB) is an effective grain refinement technique for the Mg–Al alloy AZ61. Thus, a number of ARB routes at 300 ◦C and 400 ◦C, using thickness reductions per pass of 25%, 50%, 66%, and 80%, were performed. It was found that both the ultimate grain size achieved, as well as the degree of bonding, depend on the rolling temperature and on the thickness reduction per pass. Higher temperatures and higher reductions promote a larger degree of bonding. Increasing strain also favors the formation of a more homogeneous microstructure. The smallest grain sizes were obtained at the lowest rolling temperature.

The authors acknowledge financial support form CICYT (Spain) under program MAT 2000-1313. J.A.V. is thankful to the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science for a Ramón y Cajal contract

Peer reviewed