Precipitation behaviors and mechanical properties of a solution-treated Mg-Gd-Nd-Zn-Zr alloy during equal-channel angular pressing process

A magnesium alloy processed by equal-channel angular pressing (ECAP) exhibited excellent microstructure refinement and improved strength and hardness.The comprehensive mechanical properties of magnesium alloys have supported the expansion of their applications in the automotive,aerospace,and biomedical industries.Herein,pre-treatment of a solution-treated Mg-2.9Gd-1.5Nd-0.3Zn-0.3Zr alloy was conducted to investigate the precipitate behavior and microstructure evolution during the ECAP process.β;phase grains quickly precipitated from the solution-treated alloy,which accelerated grain refinement and enhanced the ductility after the ECAP process,as compared to the as-cast alloy reported in our previous study.Moreover,spherical precipitates (~200 nm) and fine phases (~100 nm) precipitated along the stripe-like Zn;Zr;phase,which formed a kabap-like structure dispersing homogeneously in the solution-treated alloy during the ECAP process.Owing to grain refinement,dislocations,sphericalβ;precipitates,and texture evolution,the solution-treated alloy after eight passes of ECAP exhibited good comprehensive mechanical properties,with the ultimate tensile strength,yield strength,and elongation values reaching210.9 MPa,263.9 MPa,and 27.9%,respectively.

Microstructure and Properties of Micro-Alloyed Mg-2.0Nd-0.2Sr by Heat Treatment and Extrusion

Magnesium(Mg)and its alloys have broad application prospects in the fields such as biomedical materials and automobile manufacturing.A micro-alloyed Mg-2.0Nd-0.2Sr(wt.%)magnesium alloy is designed and obtained through semicontinuous casting.The evolution of microstructures and tensile properties are investigated with different heat treatments and extrusion treatments.The grain sizes decrease significantly after extrusion,thus changing the fracture mode during the tensile testing process.The ultimate tensile strength(UTS),yield strength(YS)and elongation(EL)of the properly processed extrusion alloy(referred to as MNS-E2)reach to 247 MPa,228 MPa and 24%,respectively.The dramatical improvement of mechanical properties results from the refined grains and interactions between dislocations and precipitates.Some nanoparticle bands blocking the slippage and movement of dislocations are also found in the MNS-E2 alloy.The above causes combined result in an integrated effect of grain boundary strengthening,dislocation strengthening,precipitation strengthening and nanoparticle band strengthening.The contribution of strengthening mechanisms of MNS-E2 alloy consists of grain boundary with around 96 MPa,dislocations with around 3.4 MPa,precipitation strengthening with around 45 MPa and the nanoparticle band with around 18 MPa,respectively.

A valveless piezoelectric pump with novel flow path design of function of rectification to improve energy efficiency

Existing valveless piezoelectric pumps are mostly based on the flow resistance mechanism to generate unidirectional fluid pumping,resulting in inefficient energy conversion because the majority of mechanical energy is consumed in terms of parasitic loss.In this paper,a novel tube structure composed of a Y-shaped tube and aȹ-shaped tube was proposed considering theory of jet inertia and vortex dissipation for the first time to improve energy efficiency.After verifying its feasibility through the flow field simulation,the proposed tubes were integrated into a piezo-driven chamber,and a novel valveless piezoelectric pump with the function of rectification(NVPPFR)was reported.Unlike previous pumps,the reported pump directed the reflux fluid to another flow channel different from the pumping fluid,thus improving pumping efficiency.Then,mathematical modeling was established,including the kinetic analysis of vibrator,flow loss analysis of fluid,and pumping efficiency.Eventually,experiments were designed,and results showed that NVPPFR had the function of rectification and net pumping effect.The maximum flow rate reached 6.89 mL/min,and the pumping efficiency was up to 27%.The development of NVPPFR compensated for the inefficiency of traditional valveless piezoelectric pumps,broadening the application prospect in biomedicine and biology fields.