Microstructure and corrosion property of AZ61 magnesium alloy by electromagnetic stirring

The influence of permanent-magnet-driven stirring during solidification on the microstructure and corrosion property of AZ61 magnesium alloy was investigated. The corrosion behaviour of AZ61 was studied in ~3.5 ~mol/L NaCl by measuring electrochemical polarization. The results show that the permanent-magnet stirring refines the microstructure of AZ61 magnesium alloy, which improves the precipitation amount and distribution uniformity of β phase and decreases the content of hydrogen, but it has less influence on the distribution uniformity of Zn. The change of precipitation amount of β phase influences the corrosive nature of the matrix, and it has no direct proportion with the corrosion resistance of the matrix.