MSE Colloquium: Victoria Miller, Prediction of Magnesium Alloy Formability Using a Polycrystal Plasticity Model

Abstract

Both crystallographic texture and grain size are material parameters that are widely reported to influence the formability of magnesium alloys. However, it is experimentally challenging to systematically vary each of these individual effects. This study uses synthetic sheet textures in conjunction with a viscoplastic self-consistent (VPSC) polycrystal plasticity model to predict deformation behavior and formability as a function of texture and grain size. First, the VPSC model is parameterized based on experimental data. Then, several texture characteristics, namely the basal peak intensity, in-plane distribution of the prism poles, and asymmetry of the basal pole figure peak, are isolated and their effects on slip activity, texture evolution, and formability are reported. For each of these texture characteristics, the effect of varied grain size (as represented by critical resolved shear stress required for twinning) is also discussed. In all cases, increasing activation of prismatic slip activity is deleterious to the predicted forming behavior. 

Bio

Victoria Miller is currently in the fifth and final year of her PhD in the Materials Department at the University of California Santa Barbara in Tresa Pollock’s group. She completed her B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Michigan in 2011. Her current research focuses on the evolution of microstructure and crystallographic texture during thermomechanical processing in metals, including magnesium, titanium, and nickel alloys.