Discontinuous and continuous precipitation in magnesium–aluminium type alloys

The effect of simultaneous alloying with Ca and rare earth (RE) elements on the age hardening kinetics of AZ91 was studied through the fitting of the Johnson–Mehl–Avrami (JMA) equation. The results showed that the addition of both Ca and RE elements not only suppress discontinuous precipitation of the Mg 17 Al 12 phase during the age hardening process, but also decrease the alloy hardness. Fitting the JMA equation to the experimental data indicated that the phase transformation during age hardening of an alloy variant containing both Ca and RE (at 170 °C and 190 °C) and standard AZ91 (at 170 °C) takes place by the nucleation of precipitates on dislocations. In contrast, the precipitation during age hardening of AZ91 at 190 °C occurs via nucleation at grain boundaries. Although it was observed that the creep strength of age hardened specimens are lower than that of the as cast specimens, but age hardening treatment has lower deleterious influence on the creep resistance of the alloy containing Ca and RE in comparison with conventional AZ91. This may be ascribed to the decreased precipitation rate resulting from the addition of both Ca and RE elements.

The effect of Ca and RE elements on the precipitation kinetics of Mg17Al12 phase during artificial aging of magnesium alloy AZ91

Dynamic recrystallization kinetics and microstructure evolution of an AZ91D magnesium alloy during hot compression

Accelerated precipitation behavior of cast Mg-Al-Zn alloy by grain refinement

Ternary Mg-Al-Sr alloys are the base of a few new creep-resistant, lightweight Mg alloys for automobiles. Hot tearing of Mg-Al-Sr alloys was studied by constrained rod casting (CRC) in a steel mold equipped with a load cell and a thermocouple. The alloys investigated included, in order of decreasing hot tearing susceptibility, Mg-4Al-1.5Sr, Mg-6Al-1.5Sr, Mg-8Al-1.5Sr, and Mg-8Al-3Sr. Two different molds were used, one for 8.7-mm-diameter rods and the other 7.9 mm. The cooling rate was varied by varying mold preheating from 523 K (250 °C) to 658 K (385 °C) and mold insulation. The load curve showed a clear peak when hot tearing occurred in all but Mg-8Al-3Sr due to its high resistance to hot tearing. From the peak and the cooling curve, the temperature at which hot tearing occurred was determined and found to decrease with increasing Al content from 4 to 8 pct. For a specific alloy, the hot tearing onset temperature did not change significantly with the rod diameter or mold preheating, at least within the experimental conditions used. The Scheil solidification model was used to estimate the fraction solid at the onset of hot tearing. It was found that hot tearing occurred near the end of primary solidification L → α (Mg) and that the fraction solid at which hot tearing occurred decreased with increasing Al content. The validity of the Scheil model was discussed.

Onset of Hot Tearing in Ternary Mg-Al-Sr Alloy Castings

The morphology and growth kinetics of the discontinuous precipitation and dissolution reactions in supersaturated Mg-Al solid solutions containing 7.3, 9.1 and 10.9 at % Al have been investigated by optical and scanning electron microscopy and X-ray measurements. The volume fraction of regions transformed by the discontinuous precipitation reaction, the reaction front velocity, the interlamellar spacing and the average composition of the solute-depleted lamellae were determined as a function of the temperature. For the first time, the kinetics of the discontinuous dissolution reaction has been studied in the Mg-Al system. It has been shown that the transport of the solute atoms during both reactions is governed by grain boundary diffusion.

W. M. Kuschke

Papers

The kinetics of the discontinuous precipitation and dissolution in Mg-rich Al alloys