Effects of icosahedral phase on mechanical anisotropy of as-extruded Mg-14Li (in wt%) based alloys

Through investigating and comparing microstructure and crystallographic texture of as-extruded Mg-14Li and Mg-14U-6Zn-1Y (in wt%) alloys, the differences in their mechanical anisotropy were investigated. It revealed that the formation of I-phase (Mg3Zn6Y, icosahedral structure) can effectively refine grain size. Moreover, compared with Mg-14Li alloy, the texture type of Mg-14Li-6Zn-1Y alloy changed slightly, but its texture intensity decreased remarkably. As a result, the stronger texture contributed to the "normal" mechanical anisotropy of Mg-14Li alloy with higher tensile strength and a lower elongation ratio along transverse direction (TD) than those along extrusion direction (ED). However, for Mg-14Li-6Zn-1Y alloy, the zonal distribution of I-phase particles along ED caused "abnormal" mechanical anisotropy, i.e. higher tensile strength and better plasticity along ED. (C) 2019 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The editorial office of Journal of Materials Science & Technology.