The feasibility of fabricating ZA84 magnesium alloy with non-dendritic microstructure by a semi-solid isothermal heat treatment process and the effects of holding temperature and time on the semi-solid isothermal heat-treated microstructure of the alloy were investigated. The results indicate that it is possible to produce ZA84 alloy with non-dendritic microstructure by suitable semi-solid isothermal heat treatment. After being treated at 560-575 ℃ for 120 min, ZA84 magnesium alloy can obtain a non-dendritic microstructure with 14.2%-25.6% liquid fraction and an average size of 56-65 μm of the unmelted primary solid particles. With the increasing holding time from 30 to 120 min or holding temperature from 560 to 575 ℃, the average size of unmelted primary solid particles decreases and globular tendency becomes more obvious. Under the experimental condition, the microstructural evolution of ZA84 alloy during semi-solid isothermal treatment is mainly composed of three stages of initial coarsening, structural separation and spheroidization. The subsequent coarsening of spheroidal grains is not observed.
Y and Gd demonstrate anomalous solid solution hardening efficiency,which cannot be understood using the elastic impuritydislocation interaction theory.We performed first-principles calculations to investigate the effect of different alloying elements such as Al,Zn,Y,and Gd on the chemical bonding of Mg solid solutions.The present calculations clearly show that the anomalous solid solution hardening of Y and Gd in Mg may be understood based on the increased bonding strength of both Mg-Y (Gd) and Mg-Mg.
The hot working behaviors of Mg-9Y-1MM-0.6Zr （WE91） magnesium alloy were researched in a temperature range of 653 773 K and strain rate range of 0.001 1 s 1 on Gleeble 1500D hot simulator under the maximum deformation degree of 60%. A mathematical model was established to predict the stress—strain curves of this alloy during deformation. The experimental results show that the relationship between stress and strain is obviously affected by the strain rates and deformation temperatures. The flow stress of WE91 magnesium alloy during high temperature deformation can be represented by Zener-Hollomon parameter in the hyperbolic Arrhenius-type equation, and the stress—strain curves obtained by the established model are in good agreement with the experimental results,which prove that the model reflects the real deformation characteristics of the WE91 alloy. The average deformation activation energy is 220 kJ/mol at strain of 0.1. The microstructures of WE91 during deformation processing are influenced by temperature and strain rates.
A high strength GW94 alloy with fully recrystallized microstructure and equiaxed ultrafine grains of submicron size was produced by multiaxial forging and ageing. The alloy exhibits an ultimate tensile strength of 377 MPa, proof stress of 295 MPa and elongation to failure of 21.7%. The ductility is improved in comparison with that of the conventional extrusion processing. Superplastic ductility is achieved in tensile testing at 573 K with a maximum elongation of 450%. These high ductility and high strength are attributed to the coexistence of fully recrystallized grains and nanoscale Mg 5 （Gd, Y） particles dynamically precipitated at grain boundaries.
