Materials, Vol. 16, Pages 1299: Novel Ultrafine-Grain Mg-Gd/Nd-Y-Ca Alloys with an Increased Ignition Temperature

Materials, Vol. 16, Pages 1299: Novel Ultrafine-Grain Mg-Gd/Nd-Y-Ca Alloys with an Increased Ignition Temperature

Materials doi: 10.3390/ma16031299

Authors: Stanislav Šašek Peter Minárik Jitka Stráská Klára Hosová Jozef Veselý Jiří Kubásek Robert Král Tomáš Krajňák Dalibor Vojtěch

Two novel ignition-resistant magnesium alloys, Mg-2Gd-2Y-1Ca and Mg-2Nd-1Y-1Ca, were prepared in the ultrafine-grain condition by equal channel angular pressing (ECAP). In addition, four commercial alloys—AZ31, AX41, AE42 and WE43—were prepared similarly as a reference. The microstructure, mechanical properties and ignition temperature were thoroughly investigated. Both novel alloys exhibited a mean grain size of ~1 µm and dense distribution of small secondary phase particles. The mechanical strength measured by the tensile deformation test showed that the novel alloys are much stronger (~290 MPa) than all commercial alloys except WE43. However, Ca segregation into the grain boundaries caused a significant decrease in ductility (<6%). The ignition temperature of the novel alloys (~950 °C) was considerably improved by the presence of Gd/Nd, Y and Ca. This study showed that both novel alloys exhibit high strength and high ignition temperature in the ultrafine-grain condition.