• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.36 no.12
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• pp.1675-1682
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• 2012

Weight reduction is increasingly being considered very important in light of air pollution and the exhaustion of resources. As a result, many automotive components are being replaced by Al and Mg alloys, and studies are increasingly focusing on the same. However, the use of Mg alloys is limited because they have higher material cost and lower productivity owing to the difficult forming conditions compared with Al alloys. In this study, the tube extrusion process conditions of an automotive bumper back beam were analyzed using FEA. Material tests were performed to determine the properties, and experiments and analyses for a simple shape were performed to define the data for heat generation during plastic deformation. Then, the analyses of the product were carried out by considering various temperatures and ram speeds. The conditions were then established, and a product without surface defects was extruded successfully.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.14 no.7 s.79
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• pp.607-612
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• 2005

In this paper, warm deep drawing process with local heating and cooling technique was attempted to improve the formability of AZ31 magnesium alloy which is impossibly to form by conventional methods at room temperature by finite element method and experiment. For FE analysis, in first model with considering heat transfer, both die and blankholder were heated to 573K while the punch was kept at room temperature by cooling water. Also distribution of thickness and von Mises stress at room temperature and 498k for warm deep drawing were compared by FEM. Uniaxial tension tests at elevated temperature were done in order to obtain the temperature dependence of material constant under temperature of $293K\~573K$ and cross head velocity of $5\~500mm/min$. The phenomenological model for warm deep drawing process in this work was based on the hardening law and power law strain rate dependency. Deep drawing experiment were conducted at temperatures of room temperature, 373K, 423K, 473K, 498K, 523K, and 573K for the blank and deep drawing tools(holder and die) and at a punch speed of 10mm/min.

• Journal of Korea Foundry Society
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.217-221
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• 2006

The main emphasis of this study was to utilize thixoextrusion process for improving extrudability of 7075, 7003 Al wrought alloys and AZ31 Mg wrought alloy. The results of thixbextrusion experiments about microstructures and extrusion pressures were compared with conventional hot extrusion results. The maximum extrusion pressure of thixoextrusion was greatly decreased compared with that of conventional hot extrusion. It was pointed out that the extrusion temperature dependence of the maximum extrusion pressure was large and the influence of extrusion temperature on the improvement of extrudability was remarkable in thixoextrusion. This will contribute to extrudability in terms of extrusion pressure, which in turn means that shorter process time is required and smaller extrusion machine can be applied for the same operation. The elongated grains to extrusion direction were generally observed during conventional hot extrusion, while the thixoextruded microstructures were isotropic.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.238-243
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• 2014

Recently, magnesium alloys have been widely used in the automotive, aerospace and electronics industries with the advantages of high specific strength, excellent machinability, high electrical conductivity, and high thermal conductivity. Deep drawn magnesium alloys not only meet the demands environmentally and the need for lighter products, but also can lead to remarkably improved productivity and more rapid qualification of the product The current study reports on a failure prediction procedure using finite element modeling (FEM) and a ductile fracture criterion and applies this procedure to the design of a deep drawing process. Critical damage values were determined from a series of uniaxial tensile tests and FEM simulations. They were then expressed as a function of strain rate and temperature. Based on the plastic deformation histories obtained from the FEM analyses of the warm drawing process and the critical damage value curves, the initiation time and location of fracture were predicted. The proposed method was applied to the process design for fabrication of a Mg automotive compressor case and verified with experimental results. The final results indicate that a Mg case part 39% lighter than an Al die casting part can be produced without any defects.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.30-36
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• 2018

The high rate of corrosion of magnesium alloys makes it limited for industrial applications. Therefore, surface treatment is required to enhance their corrosion resistance. In our study, a chemical conversion coating for protecting the corrosion of the magnesium alloy, AZ31B, was prepared by using a phosphate-permanganate solution. The chemical conversion coating had a limited protection ability due to defects arising from cracks and pores in the coating layer. The sol-gel coating was prepared by using trimethoxymethylsilane (MTMS) and 3-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane (GPTMS) as precursors, and aluminum acetyl acetonate as a ring opening agent. The corrosion protection properties of sol-gel and conversion coatings in 0.35wt% NaCl solution were measured by the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and potentiodynamic polarization test. The EIS results indicated that the resistance of the chemical conversion coating with the sol-gel coating was significantly improved through the sol-gel sealed phosphate-permanganate conversion coating. The results of the potentiodynamic polarization test revealed that the sol-gel coating decreased the corrosion current density ($I_{corr}$). The SEM image showed that the sol-gel coating sealed conversion coating and improved corrosion protection.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.12-17
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• 2018

This paper outlines the research findings on the microstructure and mechanical properties of AZ31 Mg alloy fabricated by differential speed rolling (DSR) with respect to processing variables such as temperature, roll speed ratio (RSR), and deformation route. The resultant microstructure of the sample, deformed by 2-pass DSRs at 473 K, comprised finer grains with more uniform distribution than those at 573 and 623 K. This was due to active recrystallization, which was expected to appear during DSR at temperatures higher than 573 K. When the sample was deformed via DSR with RSR of 1:4 for the upper and lower rolls at 453 K, the values of yield and ultimate tensile strength were observed to be higher than their counterpart with RSR of 1:1. The application of sample rotation around the longitudinal axis would give rise to an excellent combination of tension strength (~330 MPa) and ductility (~20 %) at ambient temperatures. This is discussed based on its uniform fine grained structure and the softening of basal texture.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.218-224
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• 2010

Direct copper electroplating on Mg alloy AZ31B was carried out in a traditional pyrophosphate copper bath containing potassium fluoride. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and polarization methods were used to study the effects of added potassium fluoride on electrochemical behavior. The chemical state of magnesium alloy in the electroplating bath was analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Adhesion of the copper electroplated layer was also tested. Due to the added potassium fluoride, a magnesium fluoride film was formed in the pyrophosphate copper bath. This fluoride film inhibits dissolution of Mg alloy and enables to electroplate copper directly on it. A dense copper layer was formed on the Mg alloy. Moreover, this copper layer has a good adhesion with Mg alloy substrate.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.31 no.10
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• pp.576-581
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• 2021

To improve the shortcomings and expand the advantages of the single-roll melt drag method, which is a type of continuous strip casting method, the melt drag method with a molding belt is applied to AZ31 magnesium alloy. By attaching the forming belt to the melt drag method, the cooling condition of the thin plate is improved, making it possible to manufacture thin plates even at high roll speed of 100 m/min or more. In addition, it is very effective for continuous production of thin plates to suppress oxidation of the molten metal on the roll contact surface by selecting the protective gas. As a result of investigating the relationship between the contact time between the molten metal and the roll and the thickness of the sheet, it is possible to estimate the thickness of the sheet from the experimental conditions. The relationship between the thin plate thickness and the grain size is one in which the thinner the thin plate is, the faster the cooling rate of the thin plate is, resulting in finer grain size. The contact state between the molten metal and the roll greatly affects the grain size, and the minimum average grain size is 72 ㎛. The thin plate produced using this experimental equipment can be rolled, and the rolled sample has no large cracks. The tensile test results show a tensile strength of 303 MPa.

• Journal of Korea Foundry Society
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.293-301
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• 2011

Representative magnesium alloys applied to the die-casting are AZ91, AM60, etc., and the application of these alloys is restricted to components operating at moderate temperatures, due to grain boundary siding of ${\beta}$-phase($Mg_{17}Al_{12}$) at temperatures above $120^{\circ}C$. Heat-resistant magnesium alloys such as AE42, AE44 have been developed, but that have been too burdensome to produce because of the expensive rare earth materials. Research work for the development of low-priced heat-resistant magnesium alloy is actively in progress and positive results are being reported. This study aims to investigate the effect of Ca additions on mechanical properties of Mg-4Al-2Sn heat resistant magnesium alloys. Mg-4Al-2Sn alloys with Ca (0wt.%, 0.3wt.%, 0.7wt.%, 1wt.%) have been produced through the die-casting process for the development of low-priced heat-resistant magnesium alloy, and high temperature tensile tests are performed using the specimens. The results showed that mechanical properties of Mg-4Al-2Sn-xCa increased with the addition of Ca up to 0.7wt.% Ca and further addition of Ca deteriorated the mechanical properties of the alloys. A significant amount of porosity was observed at the sample with 1wt%. Ca and the longer freezing range of the alloy was believed to cause the formation of porosity.

• Transactions of Materials Processing
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.229-235
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• 2011

The formability of magnesium alloy sheets at room temperature is generally low because of the inherently limited number of slip systems, but higher at temperatures over $150^{\circ}C$. Therefore, prior to the practical application of these materials, the forming limits should be evaluated as a function of the temperature and strain rate. This can be achieved experimentally by performing a series of tests or analytically by deriving the corresponding modeling approaches. However, before the formability analysis can be conducted, a model of flow stress, which includes the effects of strain, strain rate and temperature, should be carefully identified. In this paper, such procedure is carried out for Mg alloy AZ31 and the concept of flow stress surface is proposed. Experimental flow stresses at four temperature levels ($150^{\circ}C$, $200^{\circ}C$, $250^{\circ}C$, $300^{\circ}C$) each with the pre-assigned strain rate levels of $0.01s^{-1}$, $0.1s^{-1}$ and $1.0s^{-1}$ are collected in order to establish the relationships between these variables. The temperature-compensated strain rate parameter which combines, in a single variable, the effects of temperature and strain rate, is introduced to capture these relationships in a compact manner. This study shows that the proposed concept of flow stress surface is practically relevant for the evaluation of temperature and strain dependent formability.