Alloying design and microstructural control strategies towards developing Mg alloys with enhanced ductility

Nowadays,magnesium(Mg)alloys are promising lightweight structural materials,especially in transportation and aerospace fields,due to their inherent low density and high specific strength.Most of the high-strength Mg alloys exhibit poor formability and ductility at room temperature,which limit their wide applications.However,by proper alloying design and/or delicate microstructural control,some newly developed Mg alloys,including rare-earth(RE)and RE-free ones,show enhanced ductility without significant loss of strength.To identify the critical reasons,recent researches on ductile Mg alloys have been reviewed from the aspects of alloying design strategies and microstructural control via advanced processing technologies.Moreover,some outlooks on enhanced ductility of Mg alloys are suggested,e.g.enhancing the beneficial effect of solute atoms,introducing second phase particles,tailoring bimodal-grained structures,introducing pre-twinning structures,etc.The current research progresses in alloying design and/or novel microstructural control have shed some lights on designing and producing Mg alloys with enhanced ductility.

Tailoring bimodal grain structure of Mg-9Al-1Zn alloy for strength-ductility synergy:Co-regulating effect from coarse Al_(2)Y and submicron Mg_(17)Al_(12) particles

Grain boundary strengthening is an effective strategy for increasing mechanical properties of Mg alloys.However,this method offers limited strengthening in bimodal grain-structured Mg alloys due to the difficultly in increasing the volume fraction of fine grains while keeping a small grain size.Herein,we show that the volume fraction of fine grains(FGs,~2.5μm)in the bimodal grain structure can be tailored from~30 vol.%in Mg-9 Al-1 Zn(AZ91)to~52 vol.%in AZ91-1Y(wt.%)processed by hard plate rolling(HPR).Moreover,a superior combination of a high ultimate tensile strength(~405 MPa)and decent uniform elongation(~9%)is achieved in present AZ91-1Y alloy.It reveals that a desired bimodal grain structure can be tailored by the co-regulating effect from coarse Al_(2)Y particles resulting in inhomogeneous recrystallization,and dispersed submicron Mg_(17)Al_(12)particles depressing the growth of recrystallized grains.The findings offer a valuable insight in tailoring bimodal grain-structured Mg alloys for optimized strength and ductility.

Effect of soft Bi particles on grain refinement during severe plastic deformation

Two aluminum alloys,Al-8Zn and Al-6Bi-8Zn were subjected to equal channel angular pressing(ECAP)up to5passes at room temperature.The microstructural evolution and the grain refinement behavior of these alloys were systematically studied by electron backscatter diffraction(EBSD).After5passes of ECAP,ultrafine grained microstructures formed in both alloys.However,the grain structure in the Al-6Bi-8Zn alloy is much finer than that of Al-8Zn alloy,showing that the soft Bi particles have a strong influence on enhancing the grain refinement during ECAP.The strengths of the ECAP-processed materials were measured by hardness test and it showed that after5passes of ECAP,the hardness of the Al-6Bi-8Zn alloy was higher than that of the Al-8Zn alloy.The effects of soft Bi particles on the deformation behavior during ECAP and the final strength of the Al-6Bi-8Zn alloy were discussed.

Effect of large thickness-reduction on microstructure evolution and tensile properties of Mg-9Al-1Zn alloy processed by hard-plate rolling

The effect of large thickness-reduction on microstructure evolution and tensile properties of Mg-9 Al-1 Zn alloy(AZ91)processed by hard-plate rolling(HPR)was investigated.Increasing rolling reduction from55%to 85%increases the volume fraction and refines average size of fine grains(<3μm,FGs),leading to an optimized bimodal-grained structure consisting of coarse grains(CGs)uniformly embedded in FG regions.The sample with 85%reduction exhibits the highest yield strength of~314 MPa,ultimate tensile strength of~381 MPa and elongation of~11%.The high strength is primarily due to the contribution of grain boundaries(GBs)strengthening by FGs(accounting for~65%of strength),meanwhile the improved ductility originates from the optimized bimodal-grained structure and weakened basal texture that favor a higher ductility.The present findings successfully overcome the trade-off dilemma that the largereduction rolling processing on Mg alloys usually enhances strength at expense of ductility.In addition,the intensified heterogeneous deformation and favorable formation of a bimodal-grained microstructure during large-reduct ion HPR was addressed by tracing micro structure evolution details in grains of intere st via quasi-in-situ electron back scattering diffraction(EBSD).The present study can be instructive for further designing novel Mg alloys by tailoring bimodal-grained structures for superior combination of mechanical properties.

Balancing the strength and ductility of Mg-6Zn-0.2Ca alloy via sub-rapid solidification combined with hard-plate rolling

In this study,we successfully prepared a Mg-6Zn-0.2Ca alloy by utilizing sub-rapid solidification(SRS)combined with hard-plate rolling(HPR),whose elongation-to-failure increases from~17%to~23%without sacrificing tensile strength(~290 MPa)compared with its counterpart processed via conventional solidification(CS)followed by HPR.Notably,both samples feature a similar refined grain structure with an average grain size of~2.1 and~2.5μm,respectively.However,the high cooling rate of~150 K/s introduced by SRS modified both the size and morphology of Ca_(2)Mg_(6)Zn_(3) eutectic phase in comparison to those coarse ones under CS condition.By subsequent HPR,the Ca_(2)Mg_(6)Zn_(3) phase was further refined and dispersed uniformly by severe fragmentation.Specially,the achieved supersaturation containing excessive Ca solute atoms due to high cooling rate was maintained in the SRS-HPR condition.The mechanisms that govern the high ductility of the SRS-HPR sample could be ascribed to following reasons.First,refined Ca_(2)Mg_(6)Zn_(3) eutectic phase could effectively alleviate or avoid the crack initiation.Furthermore,excessive Ca solute atoms inα-Mg matrix result in the yield point phenomenon and enhanced strain-hardening ability during tension.The findings proposed a short-processed strategy towards superior performance of Mg-6Zn-0.2Ca alloy for industrial applications.

Stabilizing a severely deformed Al-7Mg alloy with a multimodal grain structure via Mg solute segregation

Single-phase Al-Mg alloys processed by severe plastic deformation(SPD)usually suffer from unsatisfactory thermal stability at moderate to high temperatures with recrystallization occurring and obvious grain coarsening.In the present work,an Al-7Mg alloy prepared by equal-channel angular pressing(ECAP)possessed markedly enhanced thermal stability upon annealing at moderate to high temperatures(200-275℃),compared with those ultrafine-grained dilute Al-Mg alloys with a uniform microstructure.The enhanced thermal stability is due primarily to the multimodal grain structure consisting of nano-,ultrafine-and micron-sized grains,strong segregation and/or clusters of Mg solute along grain boundaries(GBs),and Al_(3)Mg_(2)precipitates formed during annealing.First,extensive recovery predominates over recrystallization and consumes most of the stored energy in the ECAPed Al-7Mg alloy annealed at≤275℃,leading to the recrystallization and growth of nano/ultrafine grains being retarded or postponed.Moreover,Mg solute segregation and/or clusters along GBs of nano/ultrafine grains could further suppress grain growth via diminishing GB energy and dragging GBs efficiently.In addition,Al_(3)Mg_(2)precipitates formed with increasing annealing time could inhibit grain growth by pinning GBs.The present multimodal-grained Al-7Mg alloy with enhanced thermal stability is believed to be particularly attractive in potential engineering applications at moderate to high temperatures.

Sc/Zr ratio-dependent mechanisms of strength evolution and microstructural thermal stability of multi-scale hetero-structured Al-Mg-Sc-Zr alloys

Microstructure and its thermal stability are critical in the development of high-performance Al-Mg alloys.Here,we attempt to tailor Al_(3)(Sc,Zr)precipitates and thus microstructure characteristics to manipulate mechanical properties and microstructural stability of Al-7Mg alloys fabricated by hot extrusion com-bined with two-pass hard-plate rolling via changing Sc/Zr ratio.Increasing Sc/Zr ratio leads to improved strength without any loss of ductility.A strength-ductility synergy,i.e.yield strength of∼548 MPa and ultimate tensile strength of∼605 MPa with an impressive ductility of∼10%elongation was achieved in the Al-7Mg-0.3Sc-0.1Zr alloy.The good strength-ductility synergy is ascribed to the multi-scale het-erogeneous microstructure promoted by the high Sc/Zr ratio,i.e.a bimodal grain structure,profuse low angle grain boundaries,dispersed nano-sized Al_(3)(Sc,Zr)precipitates coexisting with intragranular Mg-Zr co-clusters segregated at dislocations.Upon thermal exposure,the Al-7Mg-0.3Sc-0.1Zr alloy maintained higher hardness at below 250°C,whereas Al-7Mg-0.2Sc-0.2Zr and Al-7Mg-0.1Sc-0.3Zr alloys exhibited higher hardness in moderate-and high-temperature range of 250-350℃and≥400℃,respectively.Atom-probe tomography analysis illustrates that slow-diffusing Zr atoms enhance Al_(3)(Sc,Zr)coarsening resistance through forming a higher-content Zr-enriched protective shell around a Sc-enriched core in Al-7Mg-0.1Sc-0.3Zr.Meanwhile,the high Zr content promotes concurrent Al_(3)(Sc,Zr)precipitation during thermal exposure at high temperatures.The improved microstructural thermal stability in Al-7Mg-0.1Sc-0.3Zr alloy is further discussed in terms of the recrystallization resistance and grain growth behavior.The present study reveals the feasibility for designing high-strength and thermally stable hetero-structured Al-Mg-Sc-Zr alloys via tailoring Sc/Zr ratios for different application temperature ranges.