The Elastic Constants of the Single Crystal of the Mg-Zn-Zr-REM Alloy from the Data of the Elastic Anisotropy and the Texture of the Polycrystalline Sheet

The measuring of the constants of single-crystals requires the availability of crystals of relatively big size. In this paper the elastic constants of the single crystals of magnesium alloy with zinc, zirconium, and rare earth metals (REM) were determined by means of the experimental anisotropy of Young’s modulus and integral characteristics of texture (ICT), which were found from pole figures. Using these constants the anisotropy of Young’s modulus of alloy sheet ZE10 was calculated. Deviation of calculated values from experimental values did not exceed 2%. 1. Introduction Magnesium alloys attracted attention in recent years because they are the lightest among available metallic commercial materials. Due to the low density (1740？kg/m3) and a relatively high specific strength, magnesium alloys enable the reduction of weight of construction by replacing the steel and aluminum parts in the aerospace and the transport industry. High resistance to the formability due to unfavorable texture, which was formed in the process of its production, impedes wide use of magnesium alloys in practice. Magnesium alloys with zinc, modified by rare earth metals (REM), such as cerium, neodymium, yttrium, were created with the aim to weaken the undesirable texture by different thermomechanical treatments [1]. However, many questions of formation of texture and anisotropy of properties (in particular, elastic) at different types of heat treatment and deformation of magnesium alloys with zinc, zirconium, and rare earth metals have not yet been sufficiently studied. Elastic modules and constants of compliances of single crystals are included in all equations of physics and mechanics of deformable solids. Elastic constants are determined of appropriate experiments on single crystals. Growing the artificial single crystals of the desired size is associated with technical difficulties. Using the elastic constants of a single crystal of pure metal for calculating properties of alloys in polycrystalline state can lead to significant errors. The aim of this work is to determine the elastic constants of a single crystal of magnesium alloy with zinc, zirconium, and rare earth metals (REM) from the data of the measurements of the anisotropy of Young’s modulus and integral characteristics of texture (ICT). 2. Materials and Methods Magnesium alloy ZE10 containing 1.3%？Zn, 0.15%？Zr, and 0.2% of REM (mainly cerium) of 1？mm thickness was used as material for studies. Before the study the alloy was treated according to industrial technology [2]. From these sheets of alloy we cut out seven