Hot compression deformation behavior and processing parameters of a cast Mg–Gd–Y–Zr alloy

Hot deformation behavior and processing parameters of the cast Mg–9Gd–4Y–0.6Zr alloy were investigated in this paper. For the purposes, uniaxial compression tests were conducted at the temperatures ranging from 623 K to 773 K and strain rates ranging from 0.001 s−1 to 1 s−1. The tests revealed that the apparent activation energy was 209 kJ mol−1, and that the stress exponents were 3.2 and 5.1 within the low stress regime and high stress regime, respectively. The processing-map technique was utilized to determine the practical processing window. The reasonable process parameters of the cast Mg–9Gd–4Y–0.6Zr alloy were deformation temperatures of 703–723 K and stain rates of ε ˙ = 0.006 – 0.03  s − 1 . Moreover, the processing parameters were applied to isothermally forging a thin-walled cone used for a projectile head shell.