Abstract

Magnesium alloys, known for their low density and high strength-to-weight ratio, are increasingly important in the aerospace and automotive industries. Understanding the static recrystallisation (SRX) and grain growth behaviour of these alloys is crucial for optimising their mechanical properties and manufacturability. This seminar will explore the fundamental mechanisms of SRX in magnesium alloys via using quasi-in-situ electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) and lab-based diffraction contrast tomography (LabDCT) focusing on the microstructural evolution during annealing. We will discuss the influence of nucleation site, alloying elements, initial grain size, and deformation conditions on the kinetics of recrystallisation. Recent advancements in EBSD and LabDCT techniques have significantly enhanced our ability to collect large datasets with high acquisition speeds, enabling the scanning of large areas. However, post-data processing remains challenging and time-consuming when extracting quantitative and statistical results simultaneously. This seminar will also introduce our newly developed Track-Rex toolbox (https://github.com/TrackRex/Track-Rex), which allows the automatic tracking of thousands of grains and summarising the customised results within a few hours. These findings and new insights will offer a comprehensive overview of the evolution of recrystallisation grains throughout the entire SRX and grain growth process and help us tailor the microstructure.