Superior Properties of Mg–4Y–3RE–Zr Alloy Prepared by Powder Metallurgy

Magnesium alloys are important materials for application in the automotive and aviation industries. During the last few years, the number of possible applications as biodegradable implants in medicine has grown. Mg-RE（rare earth） alloys belong to the most advanced group of products, offering the best combination of mechanical properties and corrosion resistance. Among these materials, WE43（Mg-Y-Nd）is a very well-known commercial alloy that has been extensively studied for applications at increased temperatures and also in organisms. Although this material has been described, there are still possibilities to improve its properties and subsequently expand its applicability. Powder metallurgy has already been used for the preparation of magnesium alloys with superior mechanical properties and occasionally superior corrosion properties. Therefore, the present paper is oriented toward the preparation of Mg-4Y-3RE-Zr（WE43） alloy by the powder metallurgy technique（WE43-PM） and comparison of the final properties with the product of extrusion of as-cast ingot（WE43-IM）. Our processing leads to a partial improvement in the mechanical properties and superior corrosion resistance of WE43-PM. The texture strength of WE43-PM was low, and therefore, anisotropy of mechanical properties was suppressed.

In Situ Aluminum Alloy Coating on Magnesium by Hot Pressing

In the present study, pure magnesium was in situ coated with pre-alloyed Al–Cu–Mg alloy through hot pressing. The produced samples were characterized by means of hardness, wear properties and microstructure characterization. A ball-on-disk test was used to determine the dry sliding wear characteristics of the compacts. The results showed that the hot pressing technique has been successfully applied for producing magnesium parts with compatible wear resistance and hardness to aluminum. The in situ coating of Al on Mg by hot pressing resulted in an increase in hardness of about 30% compared with the pure Mg substrate. The wear rate and friction coefficient of the samples decreased with Al coating and increased with an increase in the applied load during the wear tests, compared with the uncoated material.

Mechanical Properties and Fracture Behavior of Mg-Al/AlN Composites with Different Particle Contents

In this study, magnesium matrix composites reinforced with different loading of AlN particles were fabricated by the powder metallurgy technique. The microstructure, bending strength and fracture behavior of the resulting Mg-Al/Al N composites were investigated. It showed that the 5 wt% AlN reinforcements led to the highest densification and bending strength. The total strengthening effect of AlN particles was predicted by considering the contributions of CTE mismatch between the matrix and the particles,load bearing and Hall-Petch mechanism. The results revealed that the increase of dislocation density,the change of Mg17Al12 phase morphology, and the effective load transfer were the major strengthening contributors to the composites. The fracture of the composites altered from plastic to brittle mode with increasing reinforcement content. The regions of clustered particles in the composites were easy to be damaged under external load, and the fracture occurred mainly along grain boundaries.