Micro-alloyed Mg-Ca:Corrosion susceptibility to heating history and a plain problem-solving approach

The exceptionally low corrosion rate(∼0.1 mm y^(–1)in concentrated NaCl solution for 7 days)enables lean Mg-Ca alloys great potential for diverse applications,particularly if relevant properties(e.g.mechanical strength,electrochemical performance,etc.)can be enhanced by thermomechanical processing.However,herein it is demonstrated that the corrosion performance of lean Mg-Ca is susceptible to the heating process.The corrosion rate of Mg-0.15 wt%Ca alloy is remarkably accelerated after annealing even for a short time(4 h at 400℃)because Fe precipitation readily takes place.Fortunately,it is found that micro-alloying with dedicated additional elements is able to solve this problem.Nevertheless,the problem-solving capability is dependent on the element category,particularly the ability of the alloying element to constrain the Fe precipitation.Among the three studied elements(i.e.Sn,Ge and In),only In shows good competence of restricting the formation of Fe-containing precipitates,thereby contributing to retention of the superior corrosion resistance after annealing even at a rigorous condition(24 h at 450℃).The finding creates good foundation for follow-up work of developing lean Mg-Ca-based alloys combining high corrosion resistance,superior electrochemical performance with excellent mechanical properties for applications as biodegradable implants and anode materials for aqueous batteries.

Influence of Ca addition on the dynamic and static recrystallization behavior of direct extruded flat profiles of Mg-Y-Zn alloy

This paper investigates the influence of addition of Ca in a Y-Zn-containing magnesium alloy on the dynamic and static recrystallization behaviors and reveals the formation mechanism of the quadrupole texture during thermomechanical processing. Direct extrusion of flat bands has been conducted at various process conditions to study the difference between the two alloys WZ10 and WZX100 in terms of microstructure and texture development. It can be shown that, Ca addition promotes the DRX of WZ10 alloy. During additional heat treatment,the absence of Y segregation at the grain boundaries and the associated lack of solute drag to the boundary mobility leads to a pronounced grain growth during SRX in WZX100 alloy. Furthermore, it is shown that the addition of Ca to Y-Zn is not beneficial in terms of formability.It is demonstrated that alloying elements can have different effects depending on the recrystallization mechanisms. Partially recrystallized microstructure is a prerequisite at the as-extruded status to form the quadrupole texture and during subsequent annealing, which stands for high formability.

Individual effect of Y and Nd on the microstructure formation of Mg-Y-Nd alloys processed by severe plastic deformation and their effect on the subsequent mechanical and corrosion properties

This work investigated the effect of sole yttrium and neodymium alloying on the microstructure formation during severe plastic deformation by equal channel angular pressing(ECAP) and an impact on the mechanical strength and corrosion resistance of binary Mg-3Y and Mg-3Nd alloys.The results are compared with a ternary Mg-4Y-3Nd alloy,which represents a simplified version of the commercially successful WE43 alloy.The extensive study comprises a thorough microstructural analysis performed by scanning and transmission electron microscopy,including electron backscatter diffraction and texture analysis performed by X-ray diffraction.It is shown that the presence of Nd primarily caused precipitation during the processing of the Mg-3Nd alloy,while Y remained dissolved in the magnesium matrix in the Mg-3Y alloy.This difference resulted in a significantly smaller average grain size in the Mg-3Y alloy(~0.77 nm) than in the Mg-3Nd alloy(~1.3 μm) after the final step of the processing and formation of a slightly different texture.Consequently,the composition and the processing affected the mechanical and corrosion properties of the investigated materials,measured by compression deformation tests,microhardness measurement,and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy.This study shows that the ECAP-processed W3 sample exhibits a surprisingly good combination of ultrafine-grain structure,weak crystallographic texture,high strength,and high corrosion resistance compared with the other investigated samples.These attributes make this material very interesting for utilisation in the industry and/or medicine.

Influence of recycled carbon fiber addition on the microstructure and creep response of extruded AZ91 magnesium alloy

In this study,the recycled short carbon fiber(CF)-reinforced magnesium matrix composites were fabricated using a combination of stir casting and hot extrusion.The objective was to investigate the impact of CF content(2.5 and 5.0 wt.%)and fiber length(100 and 500μm)on the microstructure,mechanical properties,and creep behavior of AZ91 alloy matrix.The microstructural analysis revealed that the CFs aligned in the extrusion direction resulted in grain and intermetallic refinement within the alloy.In comparison to the unreinforced AZ91 alloy,the composites with 2.5 wt.%CF exhibited an increase in hardness by 16-20%and yield strength by 5-15%,depending on the fiber length,while experiencing a reduction in ductility.When the reinforcement content was increased from 2.5 to 5.0 wt.%,strength values exhibited fluctuations and decline,accompanied by decreased ductility.These divergent outcomes were discussed in relation to fiber length,clustering tendency due to higher reinforcement content,and the presence of interfacial products with micro-cracks at the CF-matrix interface.Tensile creep tests indicated that CFs did not enhance the creep resistance of extruded AZ91 alloy,suggesting that grain boundary sliding is likely the dominant deformation mechanism during creep.

Understanding the corrosion of Mg alloys in in vitro urinary tract conditions: A step forward towards a biodegradable metallic ureteral stent

Ureteral stents play a fundamental role in modern time urology. However, following the deployment, stent-related symptoms are frequent and affect patient health and quality of life. Using biodegradable metals as ureteral stent materials have emerged as a promising strategy, mainly due to the improved radial force and slower degradation rate expected. Therefore, this study aimed to characterize different biodegradable metals in urinary tract environment to understand their propensity for future utilization as base materials for ureteral stents. The corrosion of 5 Mg alloys - AZ31, Mg-1Zn, Mg-1Y, pure Mg, and Mg-4Ag - under simulated urinary tract conditions was accessed. The corrosion layer of the different alloys presented common elements, such as Mg(OH)_(2), MgO, and phosphate-containing products, but slight variations in their chemical compositions were detected. The corrosion rate of the different metals varied, which was expected given the differences in the corrosion layers. On top of this, the findings of this study highlighted the significant differences in the samples' corrosion and corrosion layers when in stagnant and flowing conditions. With the results of this study, we concluded that Mg-1Zn and Mg-4Ag presented a higher propensity for localized corrosion, probably due to a less protective corrosion layer;Mg-4Ag corroded faster than all the other four alloys,and Mg-1Y stood out due to its distinct corrosion pattern, that showed to be more homogeneous than all the other four samples, making this one more attractive for the future studies on biodegradable metals.

Alloying effect of silver in magnesium on the development of microstructure and mechanical properties by indirect extrusion

The effect of Ag in solid solution on the microstructure,texture and the deformation behaviour of indirectly extruded Mg was investigated.Ag as a solid solution strengthener affects the behaviour during extrusion,resulting in enhanced deformation related heating and corresponding coarser grained microstructures.No substantial effect on the texture development is revealed.The mechanical properties simultaneously increase in stress and strain levels with increasing Ag content,especially in tension as a result of the changing impact of the slip modes which can be associated with a decrease of the lattice parameters as well as the c/a ratio of the hcp lattice structure.In compression tests with twin dominated flow,the impact is much smaller on the compressive yield stress but higher with respect to the twinning related strain hardening rate.Solid solution strength functions for Fleischer and Labusch were determined,also confirming the anisotropic behaviour of the extruded Mg alloys.

Corrosion and mechanical properties of a novel biomedical WN43magnesium alloy prepared by spark plasma sintering

Alloying of Mg with rare-earth(RE)elements proved to be beneficial for their in-vitro and in-vivo performance.In this work,a novel WN43(Mg-4 wt%Y-3 wt%Nd)alloy with a well-defined composition was prepared,where,unlike in the commercial WE43 alloy,the possibly harmful RE mischmetal was substituted by less toxic Nd.A modern spark plasma sintering(SPS)technique was used to effectively produce WN43 samples from atomized powders.Sintering temperatures of 400℃-550℃ and holding times of 3 or 10 min were used and wellcompacted final materials were successfully prepared.It was shown that a superior combination of corrosion and mechanical properties was attained in the samples sintered at 500℃ and 550℃,while the effect of sintering time was rather negligible.The performance of this material was exceptional within the group of Mg alloys prepared by powder metallurgy and comparable with conventionally prepared alloys.Moreover,it was shown that a great variety of mechanical and corrosion characteristics can be obtained by altering the SPS parameters so as to fulfill case-specific requirements typical of biomedical materials.Consequently,the novel WN43 alloy prepared by SPS seems to be a particularly suitable material for biomedical use.

Deteriorated corrosion performance of micro-alloyed Mg-Zn alloy after heat treatment and mechanical processing

The corrosion performances of the as-cast and solution-treated Mg-0.5Zn samples were investigated in 0.9%Na Cl solution and compared.From the electrochemical measurement results and corrosion morphology observations,it is found that the corrosion resistance of Mg-0.5Zn deteriorated with the extension of solution treatment duration.The main reason was the formation of Fe-Si precipitates with higher Fe concentrations during heat treatment.The Fe-Si precipitates,especially the ones with high Fe contents influenced the corrosion initiation and propagation significantly.In regard of corrosion performance,the solution-treated and then extruded sample was also performing not as good as the cast and then directly extruded sample.

Corrosion performance,corrosion fatigue behavior and mechanical integrity of an extruded Mg4Zn0.2Sn alloy

Magnesium alloys are promising as load bearing components.They are inevitably exposed to cyclic loading and corrosive environment in actual service,which can consequently result in corrosion fatigue failure and loss of mechanical integrity of the material.Therefore,in the present study,the corrosion behavior,corrosion fatigue performance and mechanical integrity of an extruded Mg4Zn0.2Sn(wt.%)alloy were thoroughly studied in two corrosive electrolytes.Strong localized corrosion occurred when the alloy was immersed in deionized water based sodium chloride(NaCl)solution.The poor corrosion resistance of the alloy resulted in a fast deterioration of the tensile properties after pre-exposure to salt spray and a poor fatigue resistance in deionized water based NaCl solution.In comparison,the active dissolution of the substrate was sufficiently suppressed in artificial tap water based NaCl solution due to the formation of highly protective corrosion product layers.This consequently conferred longer fatigue life on the alloy in the electrolyte.Our results emphasized the influence of corrosion on the fatigue behavior and tensile properties of magnesium alloys.