The Effects of Pre-Consolidation Heat Treatment on the Tensile and Fracture Toughness Behavior of the Rapidly Solidified Mg–Zn–Y–Al Alloys

Abstract

This study is aimed to optimize the tensile properties and fracture toughness of rapidly solidified (RS) ribbon-consolidated Mg–0.85Zn–2.05Y–0.35Al (at%) alloys by changing the pre-consolidation heat-treatment temperature. The alloys prepared from RS ribbons heat-treated below 673 K consisting of bimodal α-Mg grains; coarse-worked grains (∼2.8 µm) with high Kernel average misorientation (KAM) values (∼1.8°), and ultrafine dynamically recrystallized (DRX) grains (∼0.68 µm) with intermediate KAM values (∼1.1°). The DRX grains involve cluster arranged layers (CALs) and thin plate-shaped long-period stacking ordered (LPSO) phase precipitation. The fine grain structure strengthens the alloy, significantly while they have little beneficial effects in retarding the crack propagation, thus resulting in low fracture toughness. The alloys that were heat-treated above 723 K prior to consolidation possessed a three kind of α-Mg grain structure; it consisted of fine DRX grains (∼2.3 µm) with low KAM values (∼0.5°) in addition to the coarse-worked grains and ultrafine DRX grains. The fine DRX grains improved strain hardening and ductility, resulting in fracture toughness increase. Furthermore, high-temperature pre-consolidation heat treatment produces block-shaped LPSO phase grains associated with α-Mg. This LPSO phase appears to work as an effective feature to toughen the materials, due to the frequent formation of microcracks in the phase and promotion of crack deflection.