Development of High Strength Mg-Zn-Gd Alloys by Rapid Solidification Processing

Rapidly solidified ribbon-consolidation processing was applied for preparation of high strength bulk Mg-Zn-Gd alloys. Mg alloys have been used in automotive and aerospace industries. Rapid solidification (RS) process is suitable for the development of high strength Mg alloys, because the process realizes grain-refinement, increase in homogeneity, and so on. Recently, several nanocrystalline Mg-Zn-Y alloys with high specific tensile strength and large elongation have been developed by rapidly solidified powder metallurgy (RS P/M) process. Mg-Zn-Y RS P/M alloys are characterized by long period ordered (LPO) structure and sub-micron fine grains. The both additions of rare earth elements and zinc remarkably improved the mechanical properties of RS Mg alloys. Mg-Zn-Gd alloy also forms LPO structure in -Mg matrix coherently, therefore, it is expected that the RS Mg-Zn-Gd alloys have excellent mechanical properties. In this study, we have developed high strength RS Mg-Zn-Gd alloys with LPO structure and nanometer-scale precipitates by RS ribbon-consolidation processing. $Mg_{97}Zn_1Gd_2$ and $Mg_{95.5}Zn_{1.5}Gd_3$ and $Mg_{94}Zn_2Gd_4$ bulk alloys exhibited high tensile yield strength (470 MPa and 525 MPa and 566 MPa) and large elongation (5.5% and 2.8% and 2.4%).