Effect of Li addition on bending behavior of extruded Mg–2Zn alloy sheet

The effect of Li element on microstructure and texture evolutions of Mg–2Zn alloy sheet during three-point bending at room temperature were investigated. The results showed that the conventional c-axis//ND basal texture of the extruded Mg–2Zn sheet could be modified to a TD-elongated fiber texture with 3 wt.% Li addition. As a result, the room-temperature bendability of the Mg–2Zn–3Li sheet was improved effectively and this sheet showed a minimum bending radius of only 1.75 mm. Such an excellent bendability exceeds the room-temperature bending capacity of most commercial magnesium alloys. The improvement in bendability of the Mg–2Zn–3Li sheet was attributed to the TD-elongated texture distribution. This type of texture distribution could provide more efficient deformation modes to release the thickness strain during bending compared to the extruded Mg–2Zn sheet. This study could provide insights into developing Mg alloys with high room-temperature bendability by tailoring texture distribution rather than texture weakening.