Flow softening behavior of a homogenized Mg-7Gd-4Y-1Nd-0.5Zr alloy under compression to a final strain of ∼1.8 at elevated temperatures of 450∼550 °C and a constant strain rate of 2s⁻¹ has been investigated by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, electron back-scattered diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. The results show that true stress first rises to the peak point and then drops to the bottom value and increases again with further increasing strain at each temperature. Twinning dynamic recrystallization (DRX) and continuous DRX contribute to the formation of new fine grains at temperatures 450∼475 °C when the restoration is caused by both DRX and texture change due to extension twinning, resulting in the larger softening degrees compared with the softening effects owing to continuous DRX and discontinuous DRX at 500∼550 °C when twinning activation is suppressed. 500 °C is the transition temperature denoting a significant decline in the contribution of twinning and TDRX to the strain with increasing temperature. The cuboid-shape phase exists in both homogenized and compressed samples, while the compositions are varied.

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