Microstructure of Partially Remelted Thixoformable Mg-Ni Alloys

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to develop a thixoformable model alloy, Mg–Ni alloy of binary eutectic system with no range of solid solubility and to report the experimental results concerning the microstructural evolution of the alloys in the reheated semisolid state. Mg–Ni alloys of various nickel compositions were produced in the form of cylindrical billets by Rotation-Cylinder method. The results showed that the appropriate thixotropic structure, the globular solid phase with less liquid droplets entrapped inside the solid, could be obtained by the normal solidification and simple reheating procedures. Of more important feature of the thixoformable Mg–Ni alloy is that the size of the solid globules and the fraction liquid were mainly dependent on nickel composition, therefore could be controllable.