Materials Science Forum Vols. 654-656

Abstract: The effects of the Zn content on the aging behavior of Mg–Zn alloys was examined by means of Vickers microhardness measurements and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The hardness of Mg–Zn alloys with high Zn concentrations increased markedly on aging at 473 K. A higher maximum hardness was obtained at an earlier aging time for alloys with high Zn concentrations. The aging response of Mg–4.7mass%Zn alloy aged at 473 K and quenched in chilled water differed from that of a specimen both aged and quenched at 473 K up to the maximum hardness. HRTEM images of the monolayers on the { }Mg planes were recorded for specimens quenched in chilled water; ' and ' phases were found to exist in the maximally aged specimen. Compared with the specimen quenched in water, the number of ' phases was lower in the specimen that was both aged and quenching at 473 K. It was suggested that the difference in the aging response is related to the formation of monolayers in the early stage of aging.

Abstract: Magnesium alloys have received considerable attention because of their lightweight and recyclability. AM-type and AZ-type Mg-Al alloys have been used for industrial products widely, particularly for AM-type alloys because of the better toughness and impact absorption properties than AZ-type alloys. However, there is little report about the effect of casting method on age-hardening behavior and microstructure of AM-type alloys. The purpose of this study is to investigate the difference of the age-hardening behavior and microstructures of three AM-type alloys cast with steel, copper and sand molds using hardness test and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observation. Furthermore, the effect of Al content is also investigated in this study using three alloys of AM30 (3%Al), AM60 (6%Al) and AM90 (9%Al).

Abstract: The rheo-diecasting (RDC) process, a novel semi-solid processing technology, was used to produce cast components with high integrity, fine and uniform microstructure, and therefore enhanced performance. AZ91D samples with 1-3 mass%Gd were solidified by RDC process. It was found that under intensive forced convection, the primary α-Mg phase produced inside the twin-screw slurry maker had fine particle size, spherical morphology and uniform distribution throughout the samples. Microstructure observations showed that Gd addition resulted in the formation of Al2Gd which dispersed in the α-Mg matrix. The size and amount of β-Mg17Al12 phase was reduced and its continuity was broken, which was the main reason for improving mechanical properties of the AZ91D alloy at high temperatures. The amount of Al2Gd particles increased with increasing Gd addition. From EPMA quantitative analysis, almost all Gd reacted with Al, leading to the low concentration of Gd in the α-Mg matrix. The Vickers hardness increased monotonously from HV=50.4 to HV=67.3 with increasing amount of Gd. This improvement was attributed to the consummation of aluminum in melt by precipitation of the Al2Gd phases.

Abstract: Inoculation is the most common grain refining technique during metal/alloy castings. However, only a small fraction, typically 1~2%, of inoculants serve as nucleation sites while most of them do not participate in the nucleation event and hence they are usually termed ‘inactive’ inoculants. But ‘inactive’ does not mean ‘useless’. Our recent studies revealed some extra merits of these ‘inactive’ particles in Mg-Al-Y cast alloys. The current results represent a new approach to microstructure design through manipulation of inoculated particles during castings.

Abstract: A homogeneous microstructure of as-cast magnesium alloys is necessary to improve the formability during their subsequent thermomechanical processing. In Al-containing magnesium alloys, the grain refinement by carbon inoculation is considered to be the best approach until now. However, the mechanism of grain refinement is unclear. The present work investigates the coring microstructure in Mg-Al alloys inoculated with carbon using FIB, SEM and TEM techniques. In each grain one or more “hillocks” exist, enriched with carbon, manganese and aluminium. This is possibly related to the inhomogeneous nucleation of alpha-magnesium. The precipitates in these “hillocks” are always surrounded by the aluminium-rich zones. These characteristics of microstructure observed in Mg-Al alloys with carbon inoculation are compared with that observed in Al-free magnesium alloys inoculated by zirconium. The similarities between them are discussed. A novel mechanism is suggested to explain the grain refinement in Mg-Al alloys inoculated by carbon.

Abstract: AM60 magnesium alloy castings gave the solution treatment at 688K for 86.4ks. After that, aging treatment was carried out at three temperatures of 473, 498 and 523K. The age hardening curve obtained, hardness of all the specimens in the condition of peak aging was increased by decreasing the aging temperature. In the condition of long aging time, a cellular precipitation grows up from grain boundary to crystal grain. Fine cellular precipitation and intergranular precipitation obviously occurs at the lower aging temperature.

Abstract: The impact properties of high-pressure die cast Mg-RE alloys were investigated. It was found that, for rare earth contents between 2-4 wt.%, the Mg-La and Mg-Nd alloys performed better than the Mg-Ce alloys in un-notched tests. The notched results appear to be related to the amount of intermetallic. In contrast, the un-notched results indicate that at some compositions the Mg-La alloys out-performed the other alloys when compared to the amount of intermetallic. It was apparent that a lamellar eutectic structure can improve the un-notched impact properties of Mg-RE based alloys even when this is not evidenced in tensile test or notched impact results.

Abstract: Several Mg-4Al-4La/Ce alloys were developed and their microstructure and mechanical properties were evaluated. The phase compositions of Mg-4Al-4La alloy consist of α-Mg and Al11La3 phases. While two binary Al-RE phases, Al11RE3 and Al2RE (RE=Ce/La), are formed in Mg-4Al-4Ce/La alloy, and Al11Ce3 and Al2Ce are formed in Mg-4Al-4Ce alloy. The optimal tensile properties are obtained in Mg-4Al-4Ce/La alloy, in which the UTS, YS and δ are 250, 149.2 MPa and 12.24% at room temperature, and 157.8, 116 MPa and 27% at 150oC, and 99.1, 118.2 MPa and 23.2% at 250oC, respectively. The mechanics properties of Mg-4Al-4Ce/La alloy are nearly same with commercial AE44. The compression creep is lower than that AJ62 alloy.

Abstract: Cross-sectional microhardness maps of cast-to-shape flat tensile specimens have been obtained for a binary Mg-3.44 mass% La alloy. Higher microhardness numbers were generally found near the casting surface, at the corners and along the segregation band. The higher hardness values were ascribed to the finer solidification microstructure near the surface and to localized positive macro segregation. The majority of lower hardness numbers was found at the core region. Lower hardness values were ascribed to the coarser grain size prevalent at the core and to dispersed microporosity. The non uniformity of the harder surface layer in both depth and hardness appeared related to local homogeneities in the grain size distribution caused by the scattered presence of large externally solidified grains.

Abstract: Crystal plasticity finite element analysis method considering the accumulation of geometrically necessary (GN) dislocations was applied to monotonic loading of pure magnesium bi-crystal. The deformation mechanisms considering in the present analysis method are basal slip , prismatic slip , 1st order pyramidal slip , 2nd order pyramidal slip and tensile twinning . Tensile twinning is incorporated into crystal plasticity analysis assuming that twinning plane and direction of shear by twinning are equivalent to slip plane and slip direction, respectively. Critical resolved shear stresses (CRSSs) for each slip system in the literatures were used. Analysis model is designed to investigate the influence of grain boundary on the activation of slip systems. That is, one grain consisting of bi-crystal (grain A) had the crystal orientation whose Schmid factor for prismatic slip is 0.5. The crystal orientation of the other grain (grain B) was slightly deviated from that of grain A. The result of the calculation of tensile loading of the bi-crystal showed that both grains are deformed by the multiple slip of basal slip system, which resulted in the formation of GN dislocation bands.