The twin roll cast Mg-4.5Al-1.0Zn alloy sheets, processed by asymmetric rolling and subsequent annealing were investigated. The asymmetric rolling on Mg-4.5Al-1.0Zn ingot was also studied for comparison in terms of microstructure, texture and mechanical properties of the sheets. The results can be summarized as follows. The rolled sheets show intensively deformed band structures and fine grains due to dynamic recrystallization. After annealing at 375 °C for 1 hr, both the twin roll casted and ingot processed sheets show the fine equiaxed grains with around 9 μm in mean diameter. The twin roll casted magnesium alloy sheet shows superior tensile strength and low elongation compared to the ingot cast one. The results of this work suggest that asymmetric rolling can improve the formability of magnesium alloy and the technique could be extended to enhance the sheet qualities of different alloys in jewelry industry.

In this study, ZK60 magnesium alloy strips were produced by twin roll casting (TRC) and then subjected to warm rolling at the temperature of 300 °C and 350 °C. Rolled sheets related to different rolling reductions were prepared after sequential warm rolling with the rolling speed of 5 m/min. Microstructures, texture, hardness, tensile properties of the rolled sheets with different rolling reductions were studied experimentally. It has been found that grain refinement occurs actively during the warm rolling. Also, high density of shear bands were observed in the rolled sheets. The warm rolling sheet presents strong (0002) basal texture. In addition, the increase of the rolling reduction results in the improvement of the mechanical properties.