Microstructure Evolution of Polycrystalline Zinc during Tensile Testing at Room Temperature.

In this paper, a pure zinc sample was prepared by extrusion at room temperature and its microstructure evolution during tensile testing was studied by electron back-scattering diffraction (EBSD). The average grain size of the extruded zinc is 13.8 μm. Extruded pure zinc exhibited excellent ductility (60.4 ± 3.1%). The stress of the extruded pure zinc sample increased first and decreased when the strain was more than 20%, the ultimate tensile strength is 154 ± 1.4 MPa. EBSD results showed that dislocation slip was the main deformation mechanism when the strain was less than 15%, followed by dynamic recrystallization (DRX) and grain growth. The high strength and plasticity of pure zinc are due to grain refinement and DRX. These findings are expected to provide an important new pathway for designing and highly developing strength and plastic zinc products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]