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Effect of heat treatment on the microstructure and micromechanical properties of the rapidly solidified Mg61.7Zn34Gd4.3 alloy containing icosahedral phase

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Abstract

In this paper, the microstructure evolution of the rapidly solidified (RS) Mg61.7Zn34Gd4.3 (at%, atomic ratio) alloy at high temperatures was investigated. The hardness and elastic modulus of the main precipitated phases were also analyzed and compared with those of the α-Mg matrix on the basis of nanoindentation tests. The results show that the RS alloy consists of either a petal-like icosahedral quasicrystal (IQC) phase (~20 μm) and block-shaped H1 phase (~15 μm) or IQC particles with an average grain size of ~107 nm as well as a small proportion of amorphous phase, which mainly depends on the holding time at the liquid temperature and the thickness of the ribbons. The IQC phase gradually transforms at 400°C to a short-rod-shaped μ-phase (Mg28.6Zn63.8Gd7.7) with a hexagonal structure. The hardness of the IQC phase is higher than that of H1 phase, and both phases exhibit a higher hardness than the α-Mg matrix and the μ-phase. The elasticity of the H1 phase is superior to that of the α-Mg matrix. The IQC phase possesses a higher elastic modulus than H1 phase. The easily formed H1 phase exhibits the poorest plastic deformation capacity among these phases but a higher elastic modulus than the α-Mg matrix.

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Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the Youth Science Fund Project of National Natural Science Fund of China (No. 51401070). We also gratefully acknowledge Dr. Li You from University of Science and Technology Beijing for the discussion of TEM results’ analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China

    Wen-bo Luo & Wei-min Mao

  2. Institute for Advanced Materials, North China Electric Power University, Beijing, 102206, China

    Wen-bo Luo & Zhi-yong Xue

  3. School of Energy, Power and Mechanical Engineering, North China Electric Power University, Beijing, 102206, China

    Zhi-yong Xue

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  1. Wen-bo Luo
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  2. Zhi-yong Xue
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Correspondence to Wei-min Mao.

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Luo, Wb., Xue, Zy. & Mao, Wm. Effect of heat treatment on the microstructure and micromechanical properties of the rapidly solidified Mg61.7Zn34Gd4.3 alloy containing icosahedral phase. Int J Miner Metall Mater 26, 869–877 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12613-019-1799-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12613-019-1799-4

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