Papers by Keyword: Mg-Zn Alloy

Abstract: Cu and Ni impurities in Mg alloys are deleterious contaminants that reduce the corrosion resistance of the alloy. Mg₂Cu and Mg₂Ni precipitates can cause significant anodic dissolution of the Mg matrix, owing to their potential difference. Suppression of these phases can prevent the deterioration of corrosion resistance. The neutralization of these impurities through the formation of MgZn₂ intermetallic phases has been studied, because the atomic radii of Cu and Ni are similar to that of Zn. As a result, the MgZn₂ phase may precipitate during the rapid cooling that occurs during the solidification of the Mg-6 mass% Zn alloy, and introduce substitutional impurity atoms in the crystal lattice. Mg (Zn, Cu, Ni)₂ phase can be formed instead of Mg₂Cu and Mg₂Ni, in the presence of both of Zn and these impurities. In this study, the solubility of Cu and Ni into MgZn₂ phase when they contain simultaneously was investigated by preparing the intermetallic compounds and the crystal structure evaluation. The lattice parameter of the MgZn₂ phase containing both Cu and Ni impurity decreased to about 5.14 Å with increasing impurity concentration. Cu and Ni impurities are concentrated in the MgZn₂ phase while maintaining the crystal structure, when the impurity concentrations are within the composition range of Cu + 2Ni ≦ 20 at.%. When the concentrations of Cu and Ni exceeded this range, the crystal structure of the MgZn₂ phase transformed from hexagonal (hP12) to cubic (cF24).

Abstract: Magnesium Alloys have the potential to be applied in the various fields of applications including biomaterials. Magnesium Alloys are an interesting alloy due to its high strength to density ratio. They have been proposed as a biodegradable implant material due to its friendly effect to human body compared to another alloy. Besides its good biodegradable properties, it has a disadvantage of low hardness and corrosion properties. In order to overcome this, it has been combined with other metals such as Zinc (Zn) or Copper (Cu). To increase mechanical properties, we used Carbon Nanotubes (CNT) as reinforcement. Magnesium-Zinc (Mg-xZn) CNTs composites with several compositions was prepared by using powder metallurgy and sintered in the presence of flowing Argon (Ar) gas in tube furnace. Mg-Zn Alloy with the composition of 4% and 6% of Zn and the variation of CNTs at 0.1%, 0.3 %, and 0.5% was also prepared. Hardness testing by using microvickers showed that CNTs can increase the alloy hardness which the maximum hardness is 53.6 HV. The corrosion rates as low as 175.5 mpy exhibited for the Mg-Alloy with the composition of Mg-4-Zn with 0.1 wt.% of CNTs

Abstract: The influence of withdrawal rate on the microstructure of directionally solidified Mg-x%Zn (x=2, 4, 6) alloys was investigated in this paper. It was found that with the withdrawal rates increased from 20 μm/s to 60 μm/s, the morphology of the solid-liquid interface changed from planer to cellular dendrite. When the growth rate was further increased to 120 μm/s, the solidification microstructure appeared to be the typical dendrite structure with the developed secondary dendrite arms. Meanwhile, the dendrite arm spacing decreased with the increase of growth rate. Under the same solidification conditions, the microstructure went through cell branch transformation with the increase of Zn content within a lower withdrawal rate range; while the Zn content did not affect the morphology at a higher withdrawal rate. As well, the microstructure was refined gradually with the increase of Zn content. The effects of withdrawal rate and alloying content on morphology were analyzed by constitutional supercooling and the MS theory.

Abstract: A combination of hot rolling and equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) was explored to generate globular microstructures in the Mg-3%Zn alloy after re-heating to the semisolid state. It was found that the single-step deformation of as-cast alloy via hot rolling at 350°C with a thickness reduction of 50% refined the alloy microstructure by creating deformation bands of the Mg (α) phase with a size of the order of tenths of micrometers. After re-heating to 630 °C, the microstructure transformed into spheroidal morphologies with an average globule size of 82 μm. An additional deformation of the hot-rolled alloy by the ECAP method at 250 °C further refined the alloy microstructure to sub-micrometer grains of lath and equiaxed shapes. After re-heating of this microstructure to 630 °C the average globule size reached 62 μm, which is roughly 25% smaller than that achieved for the hot-rolled precursor. The role of strain-induced melt activation (SIMA) techniques in generation of globular morphologies in Mg-based alloys after partial re-melting is discussed.

Abstract: The Vickers micro hardness measurements and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) observation were carried out to investigate the effect of Zn content on aging behavior of Mg-Zn alloys. The hardness increased drastically after aging at 473 K in the Mg-Zn alloys with higher Zn concentration. And higher maximum hardness was obtained at the earlier aging time in the alloys with higher Zn concentration. In bright field image and HRTEM, the particle shaped contrasts of the precipitates were not appeared in 3.8%Zn. The particle shaped contrasts of the precipitates were appeared as indicated by arrows in 4.7 and 6.5%Zn. The contrasts of row on {110}_Mg planes and the β₁’ phase appeared in the water quenched 4.7 and 6.5%Zn alloy age at 473 K for 3.6 ks.

Abstract: The age hardening precipitates of Mg-4.7mass%Zn alloy aged at 423K,473K were studied by using high-resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM). Contrasts of mono layers were confirmed to exist on the (0001) and (1100) matrix planes. It was considered that the contrast of mono layer was plate-like shape, and identified as pre-precipitates from as-quenched stage to early stage of aging at 473K for 32h . In the peak aged specimen of aged at 473K, the β1’ phase was observed. The β1’ phase has a rod-like shape and parallel to c-axis of Mg matrix. It can be observed orientation relationship between Mg matrix and β1’phase has not only same parts to previous reports but also different parts in one β1’ phase .

Abstract: In the present work Miedema model has been developed, and the formation enthalpy of Mg-Zn alloys and the activity curve of Zn in Mg-Zn alloy at 1000K have been calculated according to the Miedema model. The calculation results showed that the formation enthalpy of Mg-Zn was small, and the excess entropy attributes a lot to the result. When excess enthopy was considered, the calculation results were found to be in good agreement with the experimental values.

Abstract: Two-step isothermal heating and conventional one-step heating processes were used to produce the semi-solid slurry of Mg-5%Zn-0.5%Zr alloys with and without 1%RE. It was found that the slurry with better semi-solid characteristics could be fabricated by the two-step heating compared to the conventional process. Only the small amount of RE addition to the Mg-5%Zn- 0.5%Zr alloy was observed to reduce the solid particle size of slurry significantly and to improve the tensile strength at 150oC, probably owing to Mg-Zn-RE phase with a high thermal stability.