Determination of Solid Solution Treatment Condition of Mg-6Al-xZn(x=0,1,2) Alloys Fabricated by Squeeze Casting Method

용탕단조법에 의해 제조된 Mg-6Al-xZn(x=0,1,2) 합금의 용체화처리조건 규명

This study has been investigated the influence of solid solution treatment on the microstructure of Mg-6Al-xZn(x=0,1,2) alloys fabricated by squeeze casting process. The products having clean surface and fine microstructure are fabricated by adopting the liquid metal forging method. The microstructures of as-fabricated state show ${\beta}(Mg_{17}Al_{12})$ precipitates between the dendrite boundaries. It is found that the hardness of the alloys is increased with increasing amount of zinc due to the solid solution hardening effect of zinc. In the changes of microstructure upon solid solution treatment time at $405^{\circ}C$, ${\beta}$ phases are dissolved in ${\alpha}$ matrix up to 1hr and the microstructure are coarsened rapidly after 2hrs. The microhardness are decreased rapidly until 1hr of solution treatment time and then stabilized. From the above results, it is concluded that the optimum solid solution treatment condition for Mg-6Al-xZn alloys is at $405^{\circ}C$ for 1hr. The solution treatment time is greatly reduced comparing to conventional casting(at $385{\sim}418^{\circ}C$ for 10~14hrs) due to the formation of the super-saturated solid solution by liquid metal forging.