Research advances in magnesium and magnesium alloys worldwide in 2020

Research on magnesium alloys continues to attract great attention,with more than 3000 papers on magnesium and magnesium alloys published and indexed in SCI in 2020 alone.The results of bibliometric analyses show that microstructure control and mechanical properties of Mg alloys are continuously the main research focus,and the corrosion and protection of Mg alloys are still widely concerned.The emerging research hot spots are mainly on functional magnesium materials,such as Mg ion batteries,hydrogen storage Mg materials,and bio-magnesium alloys.Great contributions to the research and development of magnesium alloys in 2020 have been made by Chongqing University,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Central South University,Shanghai Jiaotong University,Northeastern University,Helmholtz Zentrum Geesthacht,etc.The directions for future research are suggested,including:1)the synergistic control of microstructures to achieve high-performance magnesium alloys with concurrent high strength and superior plasticity along with high corrosion resistance and low cost;2)further development of functional magnesium materials such as Mg batteries,hydrogen storage Mg materials,structural-functional materials and bio-magnesium materials;3)studies on the effective corrosion protection and control of degradation rate of magnesium alloys;4)further improvement of advanced processing technology on Mg alloys.

Latest research advances on magnesium and magnesium alloys worldwide

In the past two years,significant progresses have been achieved in high-performance cast and wrought magnesium and magnesium alloys,magnesium-based composites,advanced cast technologies,advanced processing technologies,and functional magnesium materials,such as Mg ion batteries,hydrogen storage Mg materials,bio-magnesium alloys,etc.Great contributions to the development of new magnesium alloys and their processing technologies have been made by Chongqing University,Shanghai Jiaotong University,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Helmholtz Zentrum Geesthacht,Queensland University,Brunel University,etc.This review paper is aimed to summarize the latest important advances in cast magnesium alloys,wrought magnesium alloys and functional magnesium materials worldwide in 2018–2019,including both the development of new materials and the innovation of their processing technologies.Based on the issues and challenges identified here,some future research directions are suggested,including further development of high-performance magnesium alloys having high strength and superior plasticity together with high corrosion resistance and low cost,and fundamental research on the phase diagram,diffusion,precipitation,etc.,as well as the development of advanced welding and joining technology.

Discharge behavior and electrochemical properties of Mg-Al-Sn alloy anode for seawater activated battery

Mg-Al-Sn alloy is one of the new developed anode materials for seawater activated batteries. The potentiodynamic polarization, galvanostatic discharge and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy of Mg-6%Al-1%Sn and Mg-6%Al-5%Sn(mass fraction) alloys in seawater were studied and compared with the commercial AZ31 and AP65 alloys. The results show that the Mg-6%Al-1%Sn alloy obtains the most negative discharge potential of average-1.611V with a electric current density of 100 mA/cm2. EIS studies reveal that the Mg-Al-Sn alloy/seawater interfacial electrochemical process is determined by an activation controlled reaction. The assembled prototype batteries with Mg-6%Al-1%Sn alloy as anodes and Ag Cl as cathodes exhibit a satisfactory integrated discharge properties.