Microstructure and mechanical properties of as-cast Mg-8Sn-1Al-1Zn-xNi alloys

Mg-8Sn-1Al-1Zn-xNi(x=0.5%, 1.0%, 1.5%, 2.0%, mass fraction) alloys were designed and prepared. The microstructures and the mechanical properties were studied by using optical microscope, scanning electronic microscope, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscope, X-ray diffraction and a standard universal testing machine. The results show that the microstructure of Ni-containing alloys consist of α-Mg, Mg2 Sn, β-Mg-Ni-Al and γ-AlNi phases. No β-Mg-Ni-Al phase was observed in TAZ811-2.0Ni alloy due to its 1:1 atomic ratio of Ni/Al. The addition of Ni refines the α-Mg dendrites and suppresses the formation of coarse Mg2 Sn phase. The tensile properties results show that the TAZ811-0.5Ni alloy presented the best mechanical properties, which is due to the rod-like β-Mg-Ni-Al phase, refined α-Mg dendrites and Mg2 Sn phase, as well as γ-AlNi phase. The tensile fracture mechanism transits from cleavage to quasi-cleavage fracture with the increasing Ni addition.

Structure stability and mechanical properties of high-pressure die-cast Mg-Al-Ce-Y-based alloy

With the aim to further improve the mechanical properties of Mg-A1-RE-based alloy, Mg-3.0Al-1.8Ce-0.3Y-0.2Mn alloy was prepared by high-pressure die-casting technique. The microstructure, thermal stability of intermetallic phases and mechanical properties were investigated. The results show that the alloy is composed of fine primary a-Mg dendrites and eutectic in the interdendritic regions. The intermetallic phases in eutectic are Aln（Ce,Y）3 and A12（Ce,Y） with the former being the dominant one. The thermal stability of Al11（ce,Y）3 is conditioned. It is basically stable at temperature up to 200℃ within 800 h, while most of the Al11（Ce,Y）3 intermetallics transform to A12（Ce,Y） at higher temperature of 450 ℃ for 800 h. The alloy exhibits remarkably improved strength both at room temperature and 200℃, which is mainly attributed to the reinforcement of dendrite boundaries with Alll（Ce,Y）3 intermetallics, small dendritic arm spacing effect as well as the solid solution strengthening with Y element.

Phase transformation and thermal analysis during combustion synthesis of Mg_(17)Al_(12) alloy

The Mg-A1 hydrogen storage alloy was suc- cessfully prepared by combustion synthesis （CS） method. The formation of alloy phases during the CS process was studied using X-ray diffraction （XRD）, scanning electron microscope （SEM）, and differential scanning calorimetry （DSC）. When the time increases from 0, 0.5, 1.0 to 2.0 h at 733 K, the products are Mg and A1; Mg2A13, Mg and A1; Mgl7All2, Mg2A13; and Mg; and eventually only MgI7A112, respectively. Combined with three peaks in the DSC traces, it is concluded that the formation of MglyAll2 during the CS includes three processes, namely, the formation of MgzA13 first; then the unsaturated solid solution, MglvAla2; and finally the complete MglvA112 alloy. The formation of MgzA13 prior to MglvA112 in this work is different from those prepared by mechanical alloying. This is thought to be related to the instant high temperature during the ther- mal explosion of CS.