Influence of alloying elements on hot tearing susceptibility of Mg-Zn alloys based on thermodynamic calculation and experimental

Based on the hot tearing index|△T/△(fs)^(0.5)|recently proposed by Kou and the thermodynamic calculations of Pandat software,Al,Cu,and Mn elements were picked up and their influence on hot tearing susceptibility of Mg-x Zn(x=6,8,10,wt%)alloys was studied by experiments.The results indicate that Al addition can significantly reduce the hot tearing susceptibility of Mg-Zn alloys.Either 0.5Cu or 0.3Mn addition individually can reduce the HTS of the Mg-6Zn-(1,4)Al alloys,while adding together increases the susceptibility.The addition of 0.5Cu and 0.3Mn both individually and together increases the HTS of Mg-8/10Zn-1Al alloys.Based on the experimental and calculation results,the index can be modified to|△T/△(fs)^(0.5)|(d)^(2)for more accurate prediction on the hot tearing resistance of Mg-Zn based alloys.Grain refinement significantly improves the hot tearing resistance of Mg-Zn based alloys.

Precipitation modification in cast Mg-1Nd-1Ce-Zr alloy by Zn addition

The effects of different Zn addition(0,0.2,0.5,1.0 wt%)on the microstructure and mechanical properties of cast Mg-1Nd-1Ce-Zr alloy in as-cast,solution-treated and 200℃peak-aged conditions were studied.Precipitates in cast Mg-1Nd-1Ce-Zr alloy are significantly modified by the Zn addition.In the Zn-free alloy,the disk-shaped prismatic precipitates and the point-like precipitates are the main strengthening phases.When 0.2 Zn is added,the disk-shaped precipitates are refined and very fine basal precipitates form additionally.When 0.5 Zn is added,the basal precipitates become the main strengthening phase.Further increasing the Zn addition to 1.0%,only spare basal precipitates and point-like precipitates exist.The 0.5 Zn addition alloy has the highest strength at room temperature,whose yield strength,ultimate tensile strength and elongation in T6 condition are 136 MPa,237 MPa and 9%,respectively.

Superplasticity and diffusion bonding ofmagnesium alloy ZK60

Superplasticity of as-rolled ZK60 magnesium alloy sheets, with the average grain size of 8.2μm, was investigated at a strain rate of 5.56×10-45.56×10-2 s-1 at 573673K. The microstructure evolution during the superplastic deformation shows that the alloy deforms in a superplastic manner at the temperature from 573K to 673K. Diffusion bonding tests were carried out on the Gleeble-1500 testing machine and the specimens were successfully diffusion bonded at the superplastic temperature. The maximum specific strength is 0.82 at a bonding pressure of 10MPa for holding time 1h at 673K. The microstructures of the joints were observed through OM and SEM. There is no bond line visible in the original interfaces of sound joint with high specific strength.

Hot tearing behavior of NZ30K Mg alloy under progressive solidification

Progressive solidification is usually considered an effective strategy to reduce the hot tearing susceptibility of a cast component.In this study,special constrained plate castings with progressive changes in cross-section were designed,which enabled progressive solidification.The hot tearing behavior of a newly developed NZ30 K Mg alloy(Mg-3.0 Nd-0.2 Zn-Zr,wt.%)was studied under progressive solidification using various mold temperature distributions and constraint lengths.Of these,a homogeneous mold temperature distribution is found to be the best option to avoid hot tearing,followed by a local low mold temperature distribution(with a chiller),then a gradient mold temperature distribution.Unexpectedly,compared with the homogeneous mold temperature distribution,adding a chiller does not provide any further reduction in the hot tearing susceptibility of the NZ30 K Mg alloy.A high mold temperature and a short constraint length increase the hot tearing resistance of cast Mg alloys.Progressive solidification is not a sufficient and necessary condition to avoid the formation of hot tearing.The two key factors that determine the occurrence of hot tearing under progressive solidification are the maximum cooling rate and the constraint length.Decreasing these values can reduce the incidence of hot tearing.

Grain refinement and orientation of AZ31B magnesium alloy in hot flow forming under different thickness reductions

An analysis of the hot flow forming of Mg-3.0Al-l.0Zn-0.3Mn （AZ31B） alloy was conducted by experiments and numerical simulations. The effects of different thickness reductions on the microstructure and mechanical properties were investigated at a temperature of 693 K, a spindle speed of 800 rev/min and a feed ratio of 0.1 mm/rev. Thickness reductions have great influence on the uniformity of microstructure along the radial direction （RD） and the grain sizes become refined and uniform when the thickness reduction reaches 45%. The c-axes of most grains are approximately parallel to the RD, with a slight inclination towards the axial direction （AD）. The best mechanical properties with UTS of 280 MPa and YS of 175 MPa near the outer surface while 266 MPa and 153 MPa near the inner surface have been achieved due to grain refinement and texture. Moreover, the material flow behavior and stress/strain distributions for singlepass reductions were studied using the ABAQUS/Explicit software. The calculated results indicate that the materials mainly suffer from triaxial compressive stresses and undergo compressive plastic strain in RD and tensile strains in other directions. The higher stress and strain rate near the outer surface lead to more refined grains than that of other regions along the RD, whereas the orientation of the maximum principal compressive stress leads to a discrepancy of the grain orientations in RD.2017 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The editorial office of Journal of Materials Science ＆ Technology.

Effect of reclaimed sand additions on mechanical properties and fracture behavior of furan no-bake resin sand

In this work, the effects of reclaimed sand additions on the microstructure characteristics, mechanical properties and fracture behavior of furan no-bake resin sand have been investigated systematically within the temperature range from 25 to 600 oC. The addition of 20%-100% reclaimed sand showed dramatic strength deterioration effect at the same temperature, which is associated with the formation of bonding bridges. Both the ultimate tensile strength(UTS) and compressive strength(CS) of the moulding sand initially increase with the increase of temperature, and then sharply decrease with the further increase of temperature, which is attributed to the thermal decomposition of furan resin. The addition amount of reclaimed sand has a remarkable effect on the room temperature fracture mode, i.e., with the addition of 0-20% reclaimed sand, the fracture mode was mainly cohesive fracture; the fracture mode converts to be mixture fracture mode as the addition of reclaimed sand increases to 35%-70%; further increasing the addition to 100% results in the fracture mode of typical adhesive fracture. The fracture surface of the bonding bridge changes from a semblance of cotton or holes to smooth with the increase of test temperature.

Crystal structure of Mg_3Pd from first-principles calculations

Crystal structure of Mg3Pd alloy was studied by first-principles calculations based on the density functional theory.The total energy,formation heat and cohesive energy of the two types of Mg3Pd were calculated to assess the stability and the preferentiality.The results show that Mg3Pd alloy with Cu3P structure is more stable than Na3As structure,and Mg3Pd alloy is preferential to Cu3P structure.The obtained densities of states and charge density distribution for the two types of crystal structure were analyzed and discussed in combination with experimental findings for further discussion of the Mg3Pd structure.

First-principles study on mechanical properties of LaMg_3 and LaCuMg_2

With the substitution of part Mg in LaMg3 by Cu,the elastic constants C11 and C12 increase while C44 decreases,implying an enhanced Poisson effect and smaller resistance to <001>(100)shear.Furthermore,the bulk modulus B increases,while the shear modulus G,elastic modulus E and anisotropic ratio A are reduced.The calculated Debye temperature of LaCuMg2 is lower,implying the weaker interaction between atoms in LaCuMg2.Then,the stress-strain curves in entire range and the ideal strength at critical strain are studied.The present results show that the lowest ideal tensile strength for LaMg3 and LaCuMg2 is in the <100> direction.The ideal shear strength on the <1 1 0>(110)slip system of LaMg3 is greater than LaCuMg2.The density of states and charge density distribution are further studied to understand the inherent mechanism of the mechanical properties.

Ideal strength of Mg_(2)X(X¼Si,Ge,Sn and Pb)from first-principles

First-principles calculations within generalized gradient approximation have been performed to investigate ideal strengths of anti-fluorite structured Mg_(2)X(X¼Si,Ge,Sn and Pb)compounds.The present calculations showed that the ideal tensile strengths of Mg_(2)X occur in the[111]directions while the ideal shear strengths appear in the(111)[11-2]systems.Both ideal tensile strength and shear strength of Mg_(2)X(X¼Si,Ge,Sn and Pb)decreased gradually with the increase of atomic number of X.The microscopic process and inherent mechanisms of mechanical properties were discussed from the evolution of electronic structures during strain.

Effect of Cu addition on microstructures and tensile properties of high-pressure die-casting Al-5.5Mg-0.7Mn alloy

In this study, Cu was added into the high-pressure die-casting Al-5.5 Mg-0.7 Mn(wt%) alloy to improve the tensile properties. The effects of Cu addition on the microstructures, mechanical properties of the Al-5.5 Mg-0.7 Mn alloys under both as-cast and T5 treatment conditions have been investigated. Additions of 0.5 wt%, 0.8 wt% and 1.5 wt% Cu can lead to the formation of irregular-shaped Al2 CuMg particles distributed along the grain boundaries in the as-cast alloys. Furthermore, the rest of Cu can dissolve into the matrixes. The lath-shaped Al2 CuMg precipitates with a size of 15–20 nm × 2–4 nm were generated in the T5-treated Al-5.5 Mg-0.7 Mn-x Cu(x = 0.5, 0.8, 1.5 wt%) alloys. The room temperature tensile and yield strengths of alloys increase with increasing the content of Cu. Increasing Cu content results in more Al2 CuMg phase formation along the grain boundaries, which causes more cracks during tensile deformation and lower ductility. Al-5.5 Mg-0.7 Mn-0.8 Cu alloy exhibits excellent comprehensive tensile properties under both as-cast and T5-treated conditions. The yield strength of 179 MPa, the ultimate tensile strength of 303 MPa and the elongation of 8.7% were achieved in the as-cast Al-5.5 Mg-0.7 Mn-0.8 Cu alloy, while the yield strength significantly was improved to 198 MPa after T5 treatment.

Cyclic shear deformation and fatigue of extruded Mg-Gd-Y magnesium alloy

Deformation and fatigue of extruded Mg-8.0 Gd-3.0 Y-0.5 Zr(GW83, wt%) magnesium(Mg) alloy were experimentally investigated under cyclic torsion using tubular specimen fabricated along the extrusion direction. The controlled shear strain amplitudes ranged from 0.606% to 4.157%. Twinning and detwinning of extension twins are observed to take place during cyclic torsion and the shear stress-shear strain hysteresis loops display a perfectly symmetric shape at all tested strain amplitudes. Marginal cyclic softening is observed when the shear strain amplitude is higher than 1.732%. The strain-life fatigue curve shows two kink points, corresponding to the shear strain amplitude of 1.040% and 1.732%, respectively.When the shear strain amplitude is higher than the upper kink point, early fatigue crack is found to initiate on the maximum shear plane. When the strain amplitude is lower than the lower kink point,fatigue cracking is parallel to the maximum tensile plane. At an identical equivalent strain amplitude,the fatigue life under pure shear is much higher than that under tension-compression. The fatigue life of extruded GW83 alloy is much higher than that of extruded AZ31 B alloy at the same plastic strain energy density.

Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Mg–3Al–Zn Magnesium Alloy Sheet by Hot Shear Spinning

Hot shear spinning experiments with Mg–3.0 Al–1.0 Zn–0.5 Mn(AZ31 B, wt%) magnesium alloy sheets were conducted at various temperatures, spindle speeds and feed ratios to investigate the effects of these processing parameters on the microstructure, crystallographic texture and mechanical properties. The AZ31 B sheet displayed good shear formability at temperatures from 473 to 673 K, spindle speeds from 300 to 600 rev/min and feed ratios from 0.1 to 0.5 mm/rev. During the dynamic recrystallization process, the grain size and texture were affected by the deformation temperature of the hot shear spinning process. Each of the spun sheets presented a strong basal texture, and the c-axis of most of the grains was parallel to the normal direction. The optimal hot shear spinning parameters were determined to be a temperature of 473 K, a spindle speed of 300 rev/min and a feed ratio of 0.1 mm/rev. The yield strength, ultimate tensile strength and elongation in the rolled direction reached 221 MPa, 288 MPa and 14.1%, and those in the transverse direction reached 205 MPa, 280 MPa and 12.4%, respectively. The improved strength and decreased mechanical anisotropy resulted from the fine grain size and strong basal texture.

Development of High Strength and Toughness Non-Heated Al–Mg–Si Alloys for High-Pressure Die-Casting

Based on the 3 factors and 3 levels orthogonal experiment method,compositional effects of Mg,Si,and Ti addition on the microstructures,tensile properties,and fracture behaviors of the high-pressure die-casting Al-x Mg-y Si-z Ti alloys have been investigated.The analysis of variance shows that both Mg and Si apparently infl uence the tensile properties of the alloys,while Ti does not.The tensile mechanical properties are comprehensively infl uenced by the amount of eutectic phase(α-Al+Mg2Si),the average grain size,and the content of Mg dissolved intoα-Al matrix.The optimized alloy is Al-7.49 Mg-3.08 Si-0.01 Ti(wt%),which exhibits tensile yield strength of 219 MPa,ultimate tensile strength of 401 MPa,and elongation of 10.5%.Furthermore,contour maps,showing the relationship among compositions,microstructure characteristics,and the tensile properties are constructed,which provide guidelines for developing high strength and toughness Al–Mg–Si–Ti alloys for high-pressure die-casting.

Effects of processing parameters and addition of flame-retardant into moulding sand on the microstructure and fluidity of sand-cast magnesium alloy Mg-10Gd-3Y-0.5Zr

In this study, the effects of processing parameters（such as pouring temperature and mould pre-heating temperature） and flame-retardant content on the microstructure and fluidity of sand-cast magnesium（Mg） alloy Mg-10Gd-3Y-0.5Zr（GW103K） were systematically investigated. It was found that the increase of pouring temperature leads to coarsened microstructure and decreased fluidity of sand-cast GW103 K alloy. Increase of mould pre-heating temperature incurs coarsening of as-cast microstructure and increase of fluidity. The addition of flame-retardant into moulding sand has a negligible influence on the microstructure of sand-cast GW103 K alloy. With the increase in flame-retardant content,fluidity of the alloy initially increases and then decreases. The optimized process parameters and flameretardant addition were obtained to be pouring temperature of 750？C, mould temperature of 110？C, and flame-retardant addition of 1%. The fire retardant mechanism of moulding sand was determined.