Abstract
The effect of Sm on the microstructure and tensile properties of Mg-4Al-4 (La, Ce) alloy was studied. The Mg-4Al-4 (La, Ce) alloy was mainly composed of α-Mg and Al11(La, Ce)3. With the addition of Sm, a new phase of Al2(La, Ce, Sm) was revealed in the alloy. The results showed that at room temperature (RT), after Sm addition, the ultimate tensile stress and the elongation decreased, while the yield stress increased slightly; the elongation increased with the Sm addition and the yield stress was basically the same, but the ultimate tensile stress decreased at an elevated temperature of 150 °C. The change in the mechanical properties of the alloy was mainly related to the change in microstructure and phase. With the increase in Sm content, the volume fraction of Al2(La, Ce, Sm) phase increased and the Al11(La, Ce)3 eutectic volume fraction decreased significantly, which led to a change in the mechanical properties of the alloy. The 1 wt.%Sm-addition alloy exhibited greater elongation than the Sm-free alloys.
Highlights
Magnesium alloy is the lightest metal alloy structural material in practical application; it is widely used in automobile manufacturing and in the aerospace, national defense, and electronic communication industries [1,2,3,4]
Its strength at room temperature is unexceptional compared with traditional AZ91 (Mg–9Al–1Zn, wt.%)
1–2%wt% Sm-addition alloy at 150 °C was generally equivalent to that of the Sm-free ultimate tensile strength and elongation decreased slightly and the yield strength increased magnesium alloys, while their elongation increased by 44.4% compared with the Sm-free slightly at room temperature, which might have been related to the decrease in the eutectic alloys
Summary
Magnesium alloy is the lightest metal alloy structural material in practical application; it is widely used in automobile manufacturing and in the aerospace, national defense, and electronic communication industries [1,2,3,4]. There are several strengthening methods for casting magnesium alloys: grain boundary strengthening, solid solution strengthening [9] and second phase strengthening [10]. In order to maintain the high temperature resistance of Mg-4Al-RE-based alloys, a rare earth element (such as gadolinium, neodymium, or samarium) is selected as the alloying element. This can enhance the mechanical properties of magnesium alloys, because their atomic sizes are quite different from that of magnesium and feature great solubility in magnesium [11,12,13,14,15]. Forming a solid solution with samarium can improve the mechanical properties of magnesium alloys
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