Recent Progress and Development in Extrusion of Rare Earth Free Mg Alloys: A Review

Abstract

Mg and its alloys are the lightest structural metals available and are extremely attractive for applications as lightweight components, particularly in the automobile, electronic, and aerospace industries. The global market for wrought Mg alloys has steadily expanded over the past decade. And numerous studies have been carried out to meet this increasing demand of high-performance Mg alloys. However, Mg extrusion alloys have had a very limited usage so far. To overcome existing industrial challenges, one desirable approach is the development of low-cost rare earth (RE) free Mg extrusion alloys with superior mechanical properties. This review will introduce the recent research highlights in the extrusion of Mg alloys, specifically focusing on low-cost RE-free Mg alloy. The results from both the literature and our previous study are summarized and critically reviewed. Several aspects of RE-free Mg extrusion alloys are described in detail: (1) novel alloying designs including Mg–Al-, Mg–Zn-, Mg–Ca-, Mg–Sn-, and Mg–Bi-based alloys, (2) advanced extrusion techniques, and (3) extrusion-related severe plastic deformation (SPD) processing. Accordingly, considering the large gap in mechanical properties between the current RE-free Mg alloys and high-performance aluminum alloys, new alloy design, processing route control, and recommendations for future research on RE-free Mg extrusion alloys are also proposed. We hope this review will not only offer insightful information regarding the extrusion of RE-free Mg alloys but also inspire the development of new Mg extrusion technologies.