Effect of Rare Earth and Ca Micro-Alloying on the Microstructure and Anisotropy of AZ31 Magnesium Alloy Sheets

AZ31 magnesium alloy sheets can be applied as 3C electronic product shells. However, AZ31 sheets exhibit obvious anisotropy, which limits their industrial application range. The composition modification of AZ31 is a good choice to improve the anisotropy of the sheets, but the effect of the multi-ele...

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Main Authors: Yongbing Li, Boyu Liu, Jian Wang, Yan Sun, Hongxiang Li
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2022-10-01
Series:Metals
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4701/12/10/1724
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author Yongbing Li
Boyu Liu
Jian Wang
Yan Sun
Hongxiang Li
author_facet Yongbing Li
Boyu Liu
Jian Wang
Yan Sun
Hongxiang Li
author_sort Yongbing Li
collection DOAJ
description AZ31 magnesium alloy sheets can be applied as 3C electronic product shells. However, AZ31 sheets exhibit obvious anisotropy, which limits their industrial application range. The composition modification of AZ31 is a good choice to improve the anisotropy of the sheets, but the effect of the multi-element micro-alloying on the microstructure and anisotropy of AZ31 alloy sheets is still less investigated. For this aim, the plasticity and anisotropy of AZ31 sheets after adding Ca and rare earth elements such as Y and Gd were investigated in this paper. It is found that, different from the alloying role of single Ca or Ca and Y, the composite addition of 0.2Ca and 0.2Gd can obviously enhance the anisotropy of AZ31 alloy sheets. As a result, the elongation of AZ31 in the rolling direction (RD) direction, 45° direction, and transverse direction (TD) direction is increased from 12.5% to 22%, from 5% to 18.5%, and from 1.5% to 8.5%, respectively. This can be explained as follows: the Al<sub>8</sub>Mn<sub>4</sub>Gd phase formed by the addition of Gd consumes a lot of Mn, thus avoiding the formation of brittle phases Al<sub>8</sub>Mn<sub>5</sub> and leading to the improved mechanical properties of the alloy sheets. This study will offer a good solution for enhancing the formability of AZ31 sheets under the condition of not significantly increasing the production costs.
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spelling doaj.art-2f2e7c84ce2d47b98730cb8fedafcfb32023-11-24T01:19:44ZengMDPI AGMetals2075-47012022-10-011210172410.3390/met12101724Effect of Rare Earth and Ca Micro-Alloying on the Microstructure and Anisotropy of AZ31 Magnesium Alloy SheetsYongbing Li0Boyu Liu1Jian Wang2Yan Sun3Hongxiang Li4State Key Laboratory for Advanced Forming Technology and Equipment, Beijing National Innovation Institute Lightweight Ltd., Beijing 100083, ChinaState Key Laboratory for Advanced Metals and Materials, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, ChinaState Key Laboratory for Advanced Forming Technology and Equipment, Beijing National Innovation Institute Lightweight Ltd., Beijing 100083, ChinaState Key Laboratory for Advanced Forming Technology and Equipment, Beijing National Innovation Institute Lightweight Ltd., Beijing 100083, ChinaState Key Laboratory for Advanced Metals and Materials, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, ChinaAZ31 magnesium alloy sheets can be applied as 3C electronic product shells. However, AZ31 sheets exhibit obvious anisotropy, which limits their industrial application range. The composition modification of AZ31 is a good choice to improve the anisotropy of the sheets, but the effect of the multi-element micro-alloying on the microstructure and anisotropy of AZ31 alloy sheets is still less investigated. For this aim, the plasticity and anisotropy of AZ31 sheets after adding Ca and rare earth elements such as Y and Gd were investigated in this paper. It is found that, different from the alloying role of single Ca or Ca and Y, the composite addition of 0.2Ca and 0.2Gd can obviously enhance the anisotropy of AZ31 alloy sheets. As a result, the elongation of AZ31 in the rolling direction (RD) direction, 45° direction, and transverse direction (TD) direction is increased from 12.5% to 22%, from 5% to 18.5%, and from 1.5% to 8.5%, respectively. This can be explained as follows: the Al<sub>8</sub>Mn<sub>4</sub>Gd phase formed by the addition of Gd consumes a lot of Mn, thus avoiding the formation of brittle phases Al<sub>8</sub>Mn<sub>5</sub> and leading to the improved mechanical properties of the alloy sheets. This study will offer a good solution for enhancing the formability of AZ31 sheets under the condition of not significantly increasing the production costs.https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4701/12/10/1724AZ31 magnesium alloymechanical propertiesanisotropymicro-alloyingprecipitates
spellingShingle Yongbing Li
Boyu Liu
Jian Wang
Yan Sun
Hongxiang Li
Effect of Rare Earth and Ca Micro-Alloying on the Microstructure and Anisotropy of AZ31 Magnesium Alloy Sheets
Metals
AZ31 magnesium alloy
mechanical properties
anisotropy
micro-alloying
precipitates
title Effect of Rare Earth and Ca Micro-Alloying on the Microstructure and Anisotropy of AZ31 Magnesium Alloy Sheets
title_full Effect of Rare Earth and Ca Micro-Alloying on the Microstructure and Anisotropy of AZ31 Magnesium Alloy Sheets
title_fullStr Effect of Rare Earth and Ca Micro-Alloying on the Microstructure and Anisotropy of AZ31 Magnesium Alloy Sheets
title_full_unstemmed Effect of Rare Earth and Ca Micro-Alloying on the Microstructure and Anisotropy of AZ31 Magnesium Alloy Sheets
title_short Effect of Rare Earth and Ca Micro-Alloying on the Microstructure and Anisotropy of AZ31 Magnesium Alloy Sheets
title_sort effect of rare earth and ca micro alloying on the microstructure and anisotropy of az31 magnesium alloy sheets
topic AZ31 magnesium alloy
mechanical properties
anisotropy
micro-alloying
precipitates
url https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4701/12/10/1724
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AT yansun effectofrareearthandcamicroalloyingonthemicrostructureandanisotropyofaz31magnesiumalloysheets
AT hongxiangli effectofrareearthandcamicroalloyingonthemicrostructureandanisotropyofaz31magnesiumalloysheets