Thermal Deformation Behavior and Dynamic Softening Mechanisms of Zn-2.0Cu-0.15Ti Alloy: An Investigation of Hot Processing Conditions and Flow Stress Behavior

Through isothermal hot compression experiments at various strain rates and temperatures, the thermal deformation behavior of Zn-2.0Cu-0.15Ti alloy is investigated. The Arrhenius-type model is utilized to forecast flow stress behavior. Results show that the Arrhenius-type model accurately reflects the flow behavior in the entire processing region. The dynamic material model (DMM) reveals that the optimal processing region for the hot processing of Zn-2.0Cu-0.15Ti alloy has a maximum efficiency of about 35%, in the temperatures range (493–543 K) and a strain rate range (0.01–0.1 s(−1)). Microstructure analysis demonstrates that the primary dynamic softening mechanism of Zn-2.0Cu-0.15Ti alloy after hot compression is significantly influenced by temperature and strain rate. At low temperature (423 K) and low strain rate (0.1 s(−1)), the interaction of dislocations is the primary mechanism for the softening Zn-2.0Cu-0.15Ti alloys. At a strain rate of 1 s(−1), the primary mechanism changes to continuous dynamic recrystallization (CDRX). Discontinuous dynamic recrystallization (DDRX) occurs when Zn-2.0Cu-0.15Ti alloy is deformed under the conditions of 523 K/0.1 s(−1), while twinning dynamic recrystallization (TDRX) and CDRX are observed when the strain rate is 10 s(−1).