Effect of asymmetric rolling process on the microstructure, mechanical properties and texture of AZ31 magnesium alloys sheets produced by twin roll casting technique

Symmetric rolling (SR) and asymmetric rolling (ASR) processes were carried out on 6 mm thick AZ31 magnesium alloy sheets that were produced by twin roll casting (TRC) technique. Before rolling processes, sheets were heat treated in order to obtain a homogenized microstructure. In this study, for the ASR process the rolling speed ratio between upper roller and lower was selected as 1.25. Both SR and ASR processes were utilized with 40% reduction per passes using 2 pass schedule for a total reduction ratio of 0.67. Symmetric and asymmetric rolled sheets were characterized using optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques. Texture measurements were performed by using X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique and mechanical properties were investigated by tensile tests and also hardness measurements.