Solid-state recycling of AZ91D magnesium alloy chips

To establish the solid-state recycling technology of remarkably inflammable magnesium alloys, Bulk Mechanical Alloying (BMA) process based on the cyclic plastic deformation has been applied to demonstration experiment. Even starting from large machined chips of AZ91D magnesium alloys as input materials, microstructures of original AZ91D can be refined in the solid state via BMA. In particular, the fine intermetallics Mg₁₇Al₁₂ are distributed uniformly in the matrix. BMAed AZ91D shows high hardness more than threefold increase from the starting material. Much lower energy consumption is necessary for this solid state recycling compared to the conventional casting process. BMA is one of the suitable solid-state recycling technologies to be morphology-free from starting materials.