Controlling microstructure in magnesium alloys:: A combined thermodynamic, experimental and simulation approach

A research approach that combined thermodynamics chemistry, casting experiments, and phase field simulations was presented with the aim to derive microstructure quality criteria to assist the computational design of new optimized magnesium-based cast alloys. A precise Calphad analysis was performed for the Mg-Al-Mn-zn system as an important basis for simulation and experiments. An existing phase-field model was extended to perform spatially resolved microstructure simulations directly coupled to the new assessed Mg-Al-Mn-Zn databases, for simulation of microstructure formation during solidification. The results show that the calculated phase equilibria are in excellent agreement with the experimental data and the solidification behavior of Mg-alloys.