Mechanical properties and corrosion resistance of Mg-RE cast alloys and their plasma electrolytic oxidation

The effect of heat treatment on the mechanical properties (hardness, plasticity, yield and tensile strength) and corrosion resistance of several cast magnesium alloys with additions of rare earth metals (Y, Nd and Gd), and their surface modification by plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) were investigated. It was found that the heat treatment of the alloys results information of Mg12YZn, Mg3Zn3Y2 and Mg24Y5 based LPSO-phases and causes an increase in hardness and tensile strength by 5-7 and 20-25%, respectively, but at the same time, corrosion resistance of the alloysdrops by 10-20 times. PEO of the alloys after heat treatment reduced the corrosion currents by 1-3 orders of magnitude without changing the corrosion potential.

Anelastic Behaviour of Commercial Die-Cast Magnesium Alloys: Effect of Temperature and Alloy Composition

The anelastic deformation, resulting from partial reversal of {101¯2} twinning, is studied at room temperature to 150 °C on several commercial die-cast magnesium alloys for the first time. The magnitude of anelastic strain decreases with increasing temperature. For inter-alloy comparison, AZ91 shows the largest maximum anelastic strain, while AM40 and AM60 show similar maximum anelastic strain. The phenomenon is discussed in terms of solid solution softening and hardening of slip planes and how they influence twinning. T5-aged AE44 consistently shows smaller magnitude of anelasticity compared to as-cast AE44, suggesting that the precipitates formed during ageing may decrease the twin-boundary mobility and further suppress untwinning. Presence of anelasticity poses a challenge to yield strength measurement using the conventional 0.2% offset method, and a more accurate and consistent method of using a higher offset strain or a lower modulus is proposed in this study.

Types of Component Interfaces in Metal Matrix Composites on the Example of Magnesium Matrix Composites

In this paper, a summary of investigations of the microstructure of cast magnesium matrix composites is presented. Analyses of the interfaces between the reinforcing particles and the magnesium alloy matrices were performed. Technically pure magnesium and four various alloys with aluminum and rare earth elements (RE) were chosen as the matrix. The composites were reinforced with SiC and Ti particles, as well as hollow aluminosilicate cenospheres. Microstructure analyses were carried out by light, scanning, and transmission electron microscopy. The composites with the matrix of magnesium and magnesium–aluminum alloys with SiC and Ti particles exhibited coherent interfaces between the components. In the composites based on ternary magnesium alloy with Al and RE with Ti particles, a high-melting Al2RE phase nucleated on the titanium. Different types of interfaces between the components were observed in the composites based on the magnesium–rare earth elements alloy with SiC particles, in which a chemical reaction between the components caused formation of the Re3Si2 phase. Intensive chemical reactions between the components were also observed in the composites with aluminosilicate cenospheres. Additionally, the influence of coatings created on the aluminosilicate cenospheres on the bond with the magnesium matrix was presented. A scheme of the types of interfaces between the components is proposed.

The Analysis of Deformability, Structure and Properties of AZ61 Cast Magnesium Alloy in a New Hammer Forging Process for Aircraft Mounts

This article presents the analysis of the deformability, structure and properties of the AZ61 cast magnesium alloy on the example of a new forging process of aircraft mount forgings. It was assumed that their production process would be based on drop forging on a die hammer. Two geometries of preforms, differing in forging degree, were used as the billet for the forging process. It was assumed that using a cast, unformed preform positively affects the deformability of hard-deformable magnesium alloys and flow kinematics during their forging and reduces the number of operations necessary to obtain the correct product. Numerical analysis of the proposed new technology was carried out using DEFORM 3D v.11, a commercial program dedicated to analyzing metal forming processes. The simulations were performed in the conditions of spatial strain, considering the full thermomechanical analysis. The obtained results of numerical tests confirmed the possibility of forming the forgings of aviation mounts from the AZ61 cast magnesium alloy with the proposed technology. They also allowed us to obtain information about the kinematics of the material flow during forming and process parameters, such as strain intensity distribution, temperatures, Cockcroft–Latham criterion and forming energy. The proposed forging process on a die hammer was verified in industrial conditions. The manufactured forgings of aircraft mounts made of AZ61 magnesium alloy were subjected to qualitative tests in terms of their structure, conductivity and mechanical properties.