Synergistic control of texture and strength-ductility balance in extruded dual-phase Mg-Li alloys via Al-mediated precipitation and dynamic recrystallization

doi:10.1016/j.metadv.2026.02.029

Abstract

Abstract:

Dual-phase Mg-8Li alloys offer lightweight potential, yet the effect of Al content on extrusion-driven microstructure, texture and mechanical response remains unclear. This study varies Al content in Mg-8Li alloys and combines hot extrusion with microstructure characterization and mechanical testing to uncover governing mechanisms. Increasing Al content promotes formation and coarsening of MgLi₂Al and AlLi precipitates located within the β-Li matrix and at the α/β interfaces. These precipitates provide strong Zener pinning and inhibit the recrystallization of β-Li. β-Li texture is dominated by the α and γ fiber components and Al addition increases the component number while reducing the orientation intensity. α-Mg undergoes dynamic recrystallization (DRX) by twin-induced nucleation and subgrain migration, and continuous dynamic recrystallization (CDRX) completes with 5 wt% Al, producing refined α grains. Competition among basal, prismatic and pyramidal slips generates extrusion-direction and transverse-direction split textures. Aluminum suppresses basal slip and activates non-basal slips, which enhances texture alignment along the normal direction and narrows the split angles. Combined effects of nanoscale precipitate pinning, grain refinement and multiple slips activation raise strength by 42% to 282.3 MPa while maintaining 15.6% elongation. Our findings clarify how Al content governs the extrusion microstructure-property relations in dual-phase Mg-8Li alloys, guiding composition and processing for high-strength, ductile Mg-Li alloys.

Key words: Mg-Li alloy, Microstructure evolution, Slip competition, Dynamic recrystallization, Mechanical properties

Keqiang Su, Kaiyang Li, Kai Zhao, Tongzheng Xin, Enyu Guo, Zhirou Zhang, Huanyue Zhang, Huijun Kang, Zongning Chen, Tongmin Wang. Synergistic control of texture and strength-ductility balance in extruded dual-phase Mg-Li alloys via Al-mediated precipitation and dynamic recrystallization[J]. Metals Advances, 2026, 46: 62-74.

Figures/Tables 13

Table 1. Actual chemical composition of the Mg-Li alloys by ICP-AES (wt%).

Alloy	Li	Al	Fe	Si	Mg
Mg-8Li	7.98	/	<0.01	<0.01	Bal.
Mg-8Li-1Al	7.93	0.98	<0.01	<0.01	Bal.
Mg-8Li-3Al	7.96	3.01	<0.01	<0.01	Bal.
Mg-8Li-5Al	8.01	4.97	<0.01	<0.01	Bal.

Fig. 1. Phase characterization of Mg-8Li-xAl (x = 0, 1, 3, 5) samples: (a) XRD patterns of alloys in different states; (b) magnified view of the 22°-25° region; (c) magnified view of the 30°-40° region; (d) statistical analysis of precipitate phases in samples of different states.

Fig. 2. Microstructure images of cast and extruded samples: (a-d) optical microscopy images of C0, C1, C2, and C3; (e-f) optical microscopy images of E0, E1, E2, and E3; (i-l) band contrast maps and grain boundary distributions for as-cast samples; (m-p) band contrast maps and grain boundary distributions for extruded samples.

Fig. 3. EBSD results for the α-Mg phase in as-cast and extruded alloys: (a, d, g, j) IPF maps of samples C0-C3, respectively; (b, e, h, k) IPF maps of samples E0-E3, respectively; (c, f, i, l) recrystallization grain size distributions of samples E0-E3, respectively.

Fig. 4. ODF strength of dominant fiber textures in extruded alloys with varying Al content, along grain orientation (a) <0001>, (b) <10−10>, (c) <11−20>, and (d) <11−23>.

Fig. 5. Distribution of texture components in extruded alloys with different Al contents: (a) E0, (b) E1, (c) E2, (d) E3; (e) strength of texture components; (e1) grain orientation statistics.

Fig. 6. ODF of β-Li phase in dual-phase Mg-Li alloys measured by XRD of the extruded samples with various Al content.

Fig. 7. SEM images of cast (C0-C3) and extruded (E0-E3) Mg-Li-Al alloys: (a, b) C0; (c, d) C1; (e, f) C2; (g, h) C3; (i, j) E0; (k, l) E1; (m, n) E2; (o, p) E3.

Fig. 8. Grain misorientation and rotation axis distributions in extruded alloys with varying Al content: (a) E0, (b) E1, (c) E2, (d) E3.

Fig. 9. TEM analysis of precipitates in E3 alloy: (a) bright-field image showing phases and interface; (b) HR-TEM of region A; (b1) SAED pattern of α-Mg; (b2) SAED pattern of β-Li; (c) HR-TEM of precipitates in region B of β-Li; (c1-c3) FFT images for blue, pink, green areas respectively; (d) enlarged BF image of region C at the interface; (d1, d2) Mg and Al elemental maps; (e) HR-TEM of region D; (e1) IFFT image of selected area.

Fig. 10. Mechanical properties of alloys with different Al contents (0, 1, 3, and 5 wt%) and processes (C0-C3 and E0-E3 samples): (a) stress-strain curves; (b) UTS, YS, and EL of the investigated materials; (c) strain hardening rate-true strain curve of as-extruded samples; (d) uniform elongation of the as-extruded samples plotted against Al content.

Fig. 11. Schematic illustration of the microstructure-texture-mechanical property linkage.

Fig. 12. Schematic illustration of the microstructure evolution mechanism of matrix phase.

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