Microstructures and tensile properties of Mg–Gd–Y–Zr alloy during multidirectional forging at 773 K

Highlights: • Rare earth (RE) containing Mg–Gd–Y–Zr alloy was successfully multidirectional forged for 8 passes without any cracks. • Initial coarse grains was refined due to a combination of discontinuous and continuous dynamic recrystallization. • The alloy MDFed after 6 passes exhibited an excellent balance of strength and ductility at room temperature. - Abstract: A homogenized Mg–10Gd–4.8Y–0.6Zr (wt.%) alloy was subjected to multidirectional forging (MDF) at 773 K. It was shown that the average grain size decreased with increasing cumulative strain till 6 passes. Uniform fine-grained structure with an average grain size of 9.3 μm was achieved after 6 passes, i.e., cumulative strain of 1.8. Results revealed that grain refinement was induced by a complicated combination of discontinuous dynamic recrystallization at low strain regions and continuous dynamic recrystallization or rotation recrystallization at medium-to-high strain regions. The alloy multi-directionally forged (MDFed) for 6 passes exhibited an excellent balance of strength and ductility at room temperature with ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of 336 MPa and elongation to fracture of 21.0%