Abstract:Steady state rheological behavior of semi-solid ZK60-RE magnesium alloy during compression was studied. The alloy was prepared from ZK60 alloy and RE elements by casting, equal channel angular extruding, and liquidus forging. Semi-solid isothermal pre-treatment was carried out to make the grains spherical before compression. The apparent viscosity increases with decreasing the solid content and shear rate. Another very important factor is the grain size. When the solid content is high, the vicosity increases with decreasing the grain size at high strain rates and decreases with decreasing the grain size at low shear rates. Several fitting equations were obtained by using the power law equation, and the method of time-temperature superposition was used to get more information through a small number of experimental data.

Key words: ZK60-RE magnesium alloy; rheological behavior; method of time-temperature superposition; fitting equation