Development of High Strength Mg Alloys

Mg96Zn2Y2 cast alloy is composed of an alpha-Mg phase, Mg12ZnY phase and Mg3Zn3Y2 phase. The coarse dendritic Mg grains have transformed into small cellular Mg grains with the addition of an increasing amount of Zr. Furthermore, increasing the cooling rate led to the precipitation of the fine Mg3Zn3Y2 phase and the Mg12ZnY phase forming a net-like structure. We found that this alloy has mechanical properties equivalent to those of commercial aluminum alloys with good tensile and fatigue properties at temperatures above 473 K.