Journal of Alloys and Compounds 644 (2015) 846853

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Journal of Alloys and Compounds

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Microstructure and mechanical properties of sand mold cast

Mg4.58Zn2.6Gd0.18Zr magnesium alloy after different
heat treatments
S.J. Liu, G.Y. Yang , S.F. Luo, W.Q. Jie
State Key Laboratory of Solidication Processing, Northwestern Polytechnical University, No. 127 Youyi Western Road, Xian 710072, PR China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Microstructure and mechanical properties of sand mold cast Mg4.58Zn2.6Gd0.18Zr magnesium alloy
Received 14 February 2015 after different heat treatments were investigated. As-cast alloy was composed of a(Mg) matrix, interden-
Received in revised form 13 April 2015 dritic a(Mg) + W(Mg3Zn3Gd2) eutectic, icosahedral quasicrystalline I(Mg3Zn6Gd) phase and Mg3Gd parti-
Accepted 9 May 2015
cles within a(Mg) matrix. After solution treatment at 505 C for 16 h, most of a(Mg) + W(Mg3Zn3Gd2)
Available online 12 May 2015
eutectic dissolved into a(Mg) matrix, but a new phase, Zn2Zr3, precipitated within a(Mg) matrix. The
appropriate aging treatment was done at 220 C for 16 h, after which some dispersive ne eutectics
Keywords:
re-precipitated along the grain boundary. Furthermore, rod-like b01 and plate-like b02 formed within
Magnesium alloy
Sand-casting
a(Mg) matrix. The ultimate tensile strength, yield strength and elongation of the experimental alloy in
Microstructure the T6 state at room temperature were 280 MPa, 175 MPa and 7.5%, respectively. According to strength-
Heat treatment ening contribution calculation, it is revealed that both the second phase strengthening and the solid solu-
Mechanical properties tion strengthening played important roles in improving the mechanical properties after T6 treatment.
2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
MgZn-based alloys are one of the most promising magnesium
alloys for their low cost and high strength, which are widely used
in various airframe components [1]. However MgZn-based alloy
cannot be used above 175 C because of their poor mechanical
properties at elevated temperature. More recently, the rare earth
(RE) metals are proved to be the most effective elements to
improve the tensile strength of Mg alloys at elevated temperatures
[2,3]. Gd is often used in MgZn alloy since it can form some high
thermal stability phases, such as, Mg3Gd, W(Mg3Zn3Gd2) with
cubic structure, I(Mg3Zn6Gd) with icosahedral quasicrystal struc-
ture, and phase with a long periodic stacking ordered (LPSO) struc-
ture, which greatly depends on Zn/Gd ratio. I(Mg3Zn6Gd) phase has
been identied by TEM in both Mg95.9Zn3.5Gd0.6 (at%) alloy [4] and
Mg98.25Zn1.5Gd0.25 (at%) alloy [5] with high Zn/Gd values. With the
decrease in Zn/Gd ratio, Mg3Gd particles and W(Mg3Zn3Gd2) phase
appear in Mg97.4Zn1.8Gd0.8 (at%) alloy [6]. Further increasing Gd
content, LPSO structure phase will form in as-cast Mg96Zn1Gd3
(at%) alloy [7].
More recently, some results about microstructure and mechan-
ical properties of MgZnGd alloys have been reported. The grain
Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 13679228998; fax: +86 029 88495414.
E-mail address: ygy@nwpu.edu.cn (G.Y. Yang).
size of Mg4.5Zn (wt%) alloy was rened with increasing Gd con-
tent up to 1.5 wt% and the highest UTS and YS with the values of
231 MPa and 113 MPa had been achieved in Mg4.5Zn1.5Gd
(wt%) alloy after T6 treatment [8]. Kim et al. [9] investigated the
effect of Gd (03 wt%) on the microstructure and mechanical prop-
erties of Mg3Zn (wt%) alloy. The maximum tensile strength at
both room and 175 C were obtained for (12 wt%)Gd. Mg8Gd
xZn0.4Zr (x = 0, 1 and 3 wt%) alloy reinforced with LPSO and W
phases have been developed by Liu et al. [10]. It was found that
W phase plays an important role in improving the mechanical
properties via pinning the grain boundaries. Srinivasan et al. [11]
compared the microstructure and mechanical properties of Mg
xGdyZn (x = 2, 10 wt%, y = 2, 6 wt%) alloys and found that higher
Gd-containing alloys showed higher yield strength due to the
higher volume fraction of LPSO phase within a(Mg) matrix. It can
be expected that a high Gd content enhances UTS and YS.
However, it should be noted here that a high Gd content reduces
ductility and increases the density and production cost. The opti-
mization of Gd addition into MgZn-based alloy is, therefore, of
great necessity to keep a good balance between mechanical prop-
erties and costs. As reported in the previous works [810], the
addition of 23 wt% Gd was believed to be an optimizer.
However, there is still a lacking of the detailed investigation on
the microstructure evolution and mechanical properties of Mg
ZnGd alloy containing 23 wt% Gd.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jallcom.2015.05.062
0925-8388/ 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
 S.J. Liu et al. / Journal of Alloys and Compounds 644 (2015) 846853
In this paper, a new experimental alloy with moderate Gd con-
tent, Mg5.0Zn2.5Gd0.4Zr (wt%), was designed and prepared
using the traditional sand-casting process. The microstructure
and mechanical properties of the experimental alloy were investi-
gated and compared with the commercial ZK51A alloy [1]. The pos-
sible strengthening mechanisms were also discussed.
2. Experiment procedure
The experimental alloy with nominal composition of Mg5.0Zn2.5Gd0.4Zr
(wt%) was prepared from pure Mg, pure Zn, Mg28Gd and Mg33Zr (wt%) master
alloys and melt in an electrical-resistance furnace under the protection of an
anti-oxidizing ux (RJ4, containing 5456% KCl, 1416% BaCl2, 1.52.5% MgO, 27
29% CaCl2). After rening with C2Cl6 and holding at 780 C for 20 min, the melt
was cast in a sand mold of the standard tensile test bars at 740 C. The actual chem-
ical composition of the as-cast bar was determined to be Mg4.58Zn2.6Gd0.18Zr
(wt%) by using an inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry
(ICP-OES). The melting point was taken on a Universal V4.1DTA differential scan-
ning calorimetry (DSC) with heating rate of 10 C/min.
The test bars were solution treated at 505 C for 16 h (T4), quenched in hot
water of 6080 C, and subsequently aged at different temperatures between 200
and 250 C for various dwelling times (10 min130 h) (T6). Vickers hardness tests
were conducted using a 0.5 kg load and 15 s of dwell time. At least 10 points were
measured for each specimen and the average value was calculated. The samples for
tensile tests had a gauge length of 60 mm and a diameter of 12 mm. The tensile
properties were determined in a Zwick 150 type universal tensile testing machine
with a crosshead speed of 2 mm/min (corresponding to an initial engineering strain
rate of 4.6  104 s1). At least three specimens were used for each test condition to
ensure the reproducibility of the data. The microstructure was observed with
Olympus PM-G3 optical microscope (OM), JEOL JSM-5800 scanning electron micro-
scope (SEM) and Technai 30F transmission electron microscope (TEM). TEM sam-
ples were prepared using electron polishing. Phase analysis was conducted in
Oxford Inca X-Ray energy dispersive spectroscope (EDS) and EPMA-1720 Electron
probe micro-analyzer (EPMA). The X-ray diffraction (XRD) was performed on
XPert PRo MPD instrument in the diffraction angle (2h) range between 20 and
90, using Cu Ka (k = 0.154 nm) as the radiation source.
3. Experimental results and discussion
3.1. As-cast microstructure
OM and SEM micrographs of the as-cast experimental alloy are
shown in Fig. 1(a) and (b). It is seen that the as-cast alloy had
Fig. 1. OM and SEM images of the as-cast experimental alloy. (a) OM image, (b) SEM image, (c) EDS result at the point A, and (d) EDS result at the point B.
847
equiaxed a(Mg) grains with an average size of about 60 lm. The
discontinuous netted eutectic distributed along the grain boundary
and some big-bone-like ones aggregated at tripe junctions.
Particles marked as A was observed inside a(Mg) matrix from
SEM image of Fig. 1(b). Its composition was determined to be
Mg25.17Zn65.30Zr (at%) by EDS analysis, as shown in Fig. 1(c),
which is thought to be a(Zr) phase and acts as the nucleation site
for a(Mg) during solidication, leading to the grain renement
[12]. EDS result of point B shown in Fig. 1(d) indicated that the
composition of the eutectic phase was Mg15.64Zn8.84Gd (at%),
which was further identied as W(Mg3Zn3Gd2) with partially
ordered AlMnCu2-type FCC structure [13], according to the
selected area electron diffraction (SAED) pattern shown in Fig. 2.
It is also found a quadrangular phase and an ellipsoid phase
existing inside a(Mg) matrix, as shown in Fig. 3(a) and (c), respec-
tively. It is determined that the quadrangular phase was Mg3Gd
with BiF3 structure [11] and the ellipsoid phase was I(Mg3Zn6Gd)
[13] according to SAED patterns shown in Fig. 3(b) and (d), respec-
tively. The diffraction pattern of the ellipsoid phase showed a
5-fold symmetry, which is the typical characteristic for the
icosahedral quasicrystalline structure. It has been reported that
I(Mg3Zn6Gd) phase can be formed within Zn/Gd ratio range of
1.540.0 and W(Mg3Zn3Gd2) formed within Zn/Gd ratio range
of 0.256.0 [14]. Thus, when the ratio of Zn/Gd falls in the range
of 1.56.0, I(Mg3Zn6Gd) and W(Mg3Zn3Gd2) phases can coexist in
MgZnGd alloys. The ratio of Zn/Gd in the experimental alloy is
just about 4.24. The low volume fraction of I(Mg3Zn6Gd) phase
was also approved according to XRD pattern results shown in
Fig. 4.
3.2. Microstructure after solution treatment
Fig. 5 shows the DSC curve of as-cast alloy. The rst peak at
about 520.81 C corresponded to the melting of the eutectic phase,
and the peak at 630.48 C was related to the melting of a(Mg)
grains.
Solution treatment temperature should be normally lower by
1020 C than the eutectic temperature [15]. According to DSC
848 S.J. Liu et al. / Journal of Alloys and Compounds 644 (2015) 846853

Fig. 2. TEM analysis of eutectic phase along grain boundary. (a) TEM bright eld image, and (b) SAED pattern.

Fig. 3. TEM analysis of the second phase within a(Mg) matrix. (a) and (c) TEM images of quadrangular and ellipsoid phases, (b) and (d) corresponding SAED patterns.

analysis of the experimental alloy, solution treatment temperature,
therefore, was selected to be 505 C, and the solution time was
selected to be 16 h, considering the slow diffusion rate of rare earth
element in a(Mg) matrix. After the solution treatment, as shown in
Fig. 6, big-bone-like interdendritic a(Mg) + W(Mg3Zn3Gd2) disap-
peared and most of the continuous network eutectics decomposed
to ne particle-shaped ones. According to XRD pattern shown in
Fig. 7, the quenched experimental alloy mainly consisted of
W(Mg3Zn3Gd2), I(Mg3Zn6Gd) and Mg3Gd phases.
Some long-rod-like particles were observed in a(Mg) grains
after solution treatment, as shown in Fig. 8(a) and (b), which had
an average size about 150 nm in length and 15 nm in width.
According to EDS analysis, as shown in Fig. 8(c), the precipitate
was enriched in Zn and Zr, which can be further identied as
Zn2Zr3 phase according to SAED pattern shown in Fig. 8(d). As
reported previously [16], Zn2Zr3 precipitate was governed predom-
inantly by the core of Zr content during solidication, which asso-
ciated with the grain rening process. Due to the low contents of Zr
 S.J. Liu et al. / Journal of Alloys and Compounds 644 (2015) 846853
Fig. 4. XRD pattern of the as-cast experimental alloy.
Fig. 5. DSC of the as-cast experimental alloy.
Fig. 6. OM image of the experimental alloy after solution treated at 505 C for 16 h.
in the experimental alloy and the measurement limitation of XRD,
Zn2Zr3 phase cannot be detected by XRD analysis.
3.3. Aging hardening response and microstructure after aged (T6)
treatment
Fig. 9 presents the age hardening curves of the quenched exper-
imental alloy after aged at 200, 220 and 250 C, respectively. The
quenched alloy exhibited similar age hardening response with
849
Fig. 7. XRD pattern of the experimental alloy after solution treated at 505 C for
16 h.
noticeable increasing but the peak hardness decreased with
increasing aging temperature. After aged at 200 C, the alloy took
72 h to get the peak hardness of 72.1 HV. While aged at 220 C,
only 16 h are needed to obtain the peak hardness of 71 HV.
When the specimen is aged at 250 C, the time to get the maximum
hardness is only 1.5 h, but the peak hardness was determined to be
67.5 HV.
Fig. 10(a) shows OM image of the quenched experimental alloy
after aged at 220 C for 16 h (i.e. T6 treatment). The grain boundary
became obvious again with more and well dispersed
re-precipitated ne second phases and no obvious grain growth
was observed after aging. According to XRD pattern of T6 treated
alloy shown in Fig. 11, the alloy mainly consisted of a(Mg),
W(Mg3Zn3Gd2), I(Mg3Zn6Gd) and Mg3Gd phases.
Further investigation of T6 treated alloy showed that the
long-rod-like Zn2Zr3 precipitates still existed in grain interior, as
shown in Fig. 12(a), which suggested that Zn2Zr3 phase is ther-
mally stable [17]. In addition, a dense dispersion of nano-scale pre-
cipitates were observed to be distributed within a(Mg) matrix, as
shown in Fig. 12(a), which was made up of predominant rod-like
precipitates marked by arrow 1 and a small number of plate-like
precipitates marked by arrow 2 in magnied Fig. 12(b). This is con-
sistent with the observation in MgZn based alloys [18,19]. The
rod-like precipitates is regarded as b01 with their axis parallel to
[0 0 0 1]a direction and the plate-like precipitates is taken as b02
lying at on (0 0 0 1)a plane. Both b01 and b02 are Laves phase
MgZn2 with a hexagonal structure (a = 0.520 nm, c = 0.857 nm)
and the same composition. According to 0 1 1  0a SAED pattern
shown in Fig. 12(c), diffraction spots formed from b01 precipitates
were observed at 1/3{2 1 1 4}a, 1/2{2 1 1 4}a and 2/3{2 11 4}a. The
0
plate-like b2 particle was analyzed by the high resolution transmis-
sion electron microscopy (HRTEM), as show in Fig. 12(d). The ori-
entation relationship between b02 precipitate and a(Mg) matrix
was determined as, 1 2 3  4b0 k1 2
 1 3
 a and 0 2 2 1b
 0 k1 1
 0 1a
2 2
according to the corresponding Fast Fourier Transformation (FFT)
image shown in Fig. 12(e). It is generally believed that the forma-
tion of the ne dispersion of rod-like b01 precipitates plays an
important role during age hardening, while extensive precipitation
of plate-like b02 coincides with the onset of over-aging [20]. From
the above discussion, the rod-like precipitates (b01 ) should be the
reason of peak hardness of the experimental alloy.
3.4. Mechanical properties
The room temperature mechanical properties of the experimen-
tal alloy under the states of as-cast, T4 treatment and T6 treatment
850 S.J. Liu et al. / Journal of Alloys and Compounds 644 (2015) 846853

Fig. 8. TEM analysis of the long-rod-like precipitates in the solution treated experimental alloy. (a) low and (b) higher magnied TEM micrographs, (c) corresponding EDS
spectra and (d) SAED pattern.

Fig. 9. Hardness as a function of time for solution-treated experimental alloy aged
at various temperatures.
are presented in Fig. 13, respectively. Compared with the as-cast
specimen, solution treatment resulted in a great enhancement in
elongation accompanied by a relatively small increase in UTS and
YS. Further aging treatment led to a signicant improvement in
UTS and YS but with a small decrease in elongation. The UTS and
YS of T6 state experimental alloy were up to 280 MPa and
175 MPa, respectively, which was higher than those of ZK51A alloy
under T6 state [1].
The high temperature mechanical properties of the T6 state
experimental alloy is shown in Fig. 14. It can be seen that UTS
and YS at 200 C of the experimental alloy are up to 145 MPa and
Fig. 10. OM image of the quenched experimental alloy after aged at 220 C for 16 h.
89 MPa, respectively, which is at less 27% higher than those of
ZK51A alloy [1]. The improvement of mechanical properties at
elevated temperatures can be directly related to the concurrent
formation of the thermally stable W(Mg3Zn3Gd2) phase, quasicrys-
talline I(Mg3Zn6Gd) phase and Mg3Gd particles with a high
thermal stability, which can effectively restricted the grain defor-
mation and dislocation gliding at high temperatures [711].
3.5. Strengthening mechanisms
The strengthening mechanisms for the magnesium alloy in dif-
ferent conditions are typically divided into fourfold (i) pure Mg
 S.J. Liu et al. / Journal of Alloys and Compounds 644 (2015) 846853 851

Fig. 13. Room temperature mechanical properties of the experimental alloy in

different states.
Fig. 11. XRD pattern of the quenched experimental alloy after aged at 220 C for
16 h.

strengthening (rMg), (ii) second phase strengthening (rsp), includ-

ing dispersoid strengthening and precipitate strengthening, (iii)
grain boundary strengthening (rgb) and (iv) solid solution
strengthening (rss). Therefore, an approximate value of yield
strength (rys) of a magnesium alloy can be calculated using the fol-
lowing equation [21],
rys rMg rsp rgb rss 1
where rMg is 21 MPa for pure Mg and that 55 MPa for Mg(0.4
1.0 wt%)Zr by zirconium renement [22]. Thus, the grain boundary
strengthening (rgb) contribution in the as-cast experimental alloy is
estimated to be 34 MPa.
In this work, the as-cast alloy mainly consisted of a(Mg) matrix
and eutectic W(Mg3Zn3Gd2) compounds. The content of other ele-
ments in a(Mg) matrix is small, which indicated that the solid
solution strengthening (rss) effect can be ignored in the as-cast
state. Besides pure Mg strengthening (rMg), only second phase
strengthening (rsp) and grain boundary strengthening (rgb) Fig. 14. Elevated temperature mechanical properties of the experimental alloy.

Fig. 12. TEM analysis of the precipitates in a(Mg) grain. (a) TEM image of the long-rod-like Zn2Zr3 precipitates, (b) TEM images of the rod-like and plate-like precipitates, (c)
 0a direction, (d) HRTEM image, and (e) the corresponding FFT image of the plate-like precipitate.
SAED pattern in 0 1 1
852 S.J. Liu et al. / Journal of Alloys and Compounds 644 (2015) 846853
Table 1
Strengthening contributions in Mg4.58Zn2.6Gd0.18Zr alloy at room temperature.
Strengthening contribution As-cast Solution T6
treated treatment
MPa % MPa % MPa
Pure Mg strength 21 21.4 21 19.3 21
Second phase strengthening 43 43.9 0 0 72
Solid solution strengthening 0 0 53 48.6 47
Grain boundary strengthening 34 34.7 35 32.1 35
Experimental yield strength 98 100 109 100 175
contribute to the strength of the as-cast alloy. YS of the as-cast
alloy is 98 MPa, as shown in Fig. 12. Thus, second phase strength-
ening (rsp) contribution is about 43 MPa, which is mainly resulted
from dispersoid strengthening of the non-equilibrium eutectics.
After T4 treatment, all of the eutectic compounds are assumed
to dissolve into a(Mg) matrix, and only the long-rod-like Zn2Zr3
phase precipitated at grain interiors. However, the inuence of
Zn2Zr3 phase on mechanical properties is unclear. It is unlikely to
provide a signicant contribution to the overall mechanical prop-
erties of the alloy due to their low volume fraction [23].
Therefore, its inuence on the yield strength is ignored here.
Except for pure Mg strengthening (rMg), only solid solution
strengthening (rss) and grain boundary strengthening (rgb) are
contributed to the strength of T4 state alloy. With respect to the
solid solution strengthening in multi-component alloys, the model
in the following form proposed by Gypen and Deruyttere [24,25] is
widely accepted,
!n
X 1=n
rss ki ci
i posed of a(Mg) matrix, interdendritic a(Mg) + W(Mg3Zn3Gd2)
where n is a constant with a value of 2/3, 1/2 or 1.0, ci is the concen-
tration of solute i and ki is the strengthening constant for solute i.
According to the previous research [25,26], n = 2/3 is the best
description for the solid solution strengthening in MgZnRE alloy
compared with 1/2 and 1.0, and the values of k for Zn and Gd are
selected as 905 MPa (at%)2/3 and 1168 MPa (at%)2/3, respectively.
In this work, the average solute atom concentrations in a(Mg)
matrix were determined to be 1.04 at% Zn, 0.26 at% Gd and balance
of Mg using EPMA analysis. Therefore, the solid solution strengthen-
ing (rss) in T4 state is calculated as 53 MPa. Thus, the grain bound-
ary strengthening (rgb) is about 35 MPa.
After T6 treatment, dispersed second phases re-precipitate
along the grain boundaries, and dense of rod-like b01 and
plate-like b02 phases precipitated from a(Mg) matrix, which has a
negative effect on solution strengthening due to the depletion of
the solute atom. However, according to MgZn and MgGd phase
diagrams, the solubility of Zn and Gd in a(Mg) at 220 C were still
as large as 3.3 wt% and 6.76 wt%, respectively. Hence, the solid
solution strengthening of Zn and Gd should be considered in T6
state. Substitution of the average solute atom concentrations of
Zn and Gd determined by EPMA analysis (cZn = 0.91 at% and
cGd = 0.18 at%) into Eq. (2) yields a magnitude of 47 MPa for the
solid solution strengthening. Except for the solid solution strength-
ening (rss), the grain boundary strengthening (rgb) and the second
phase strengthening (rsp) are also contributed to the strength of
T6-treated alloy. Due to the unchanged grain size after T6 treat-
ment, the grain boundary strengthening is still 35 MPa. Thus, the
second phase strengthening (rsp) contribution is about 72 MPa.
The strengthening contributions of the experimental alloy
under different conditions are summarized in Table 1. It is found
that the second phase strengthening is the largest contributor to
the strength of the as-cast experimental alloy. However, the eutec-
tics are complex in shape and some of them present as big
sh-bone-like, which are prone to fracture under local stress
concentration during tensile test. Hence, the as-cast experimental
alloy exhibits low UTS and elongation. By following T4 treatment,
most of the big sh-bone-like eutectics disappeared and
micro-cracks would not initiate easily by the fracture of eutectic.
% Meanwhile, the grain interior is strengthened by the oversaturated
12.0
solute atoms, and there would be more resistance for the cracks to
41.1 across the grains. Thus, T4 treated alloy shows higher UTS and
26.9 elongation comparing with the as-cast condition.
20.0 For T6 treated alloy, the solid solution strengthening decreases
100
a little, from 53 MPa in T4 state to 47 MPa in T6 state, while the
second phase strengthening reaches to a high level of 72 MPa
because the amount of atoms in solid solution in the matrix is
increasingly depleted by the formation of strengthening dispersed
phases and precipitated particles. The re-precipitated second
phases, as dispersoid strengthening contributor, distributing along
the grain boundaries would provide effective obstacles to disloca-
tion movement. More importantly, the predominant rod-like b01
precipitates acted as strong pinning points hindering (0 0 0 1)a
glide, which could reduce the mobility of the dislocations in the
grain evidently [18]. Thus, the room temperature mechanical prop-
erties of T6 treatment alloy have been improved signicantly com-
pared with T4 state alloy.
4. Conclusions
The microstructures and mechanical properties of Mg4.58Zn
2.6Gd0.18Zr alloy were studied using SEM, TEM, XRD and tensile
test. The main conclusions are drawn as follows.
2 (1) The microstructure of as-cast experimental alloy was com-
eutectic, icosahedral quasicrystalline I(Mg3Zn6Gd), Mg3Gd
phase and a(Zr) particles.
(2) After solution treatment, big-bone-like interdendritic
a(Mg) + W(Mg3Zn3Gd2) dissolved, but a new phase, Zn2Zr3,
appeared inside a(Mg) matrix. The aging treatment parame-
ters of the experimental alloy were optimized to be 220 C
for 16 h, after which the microstructure with some well
dispersed ne eutectics re-precipitated along the grain
boundary, dense of metastable phases, rod-like b01 and
plate-like b02 precipitated inside a(Mg) matrix was obtained.
(3) The ultimate tensile strength, yield strength and elongation
at room temperature of the experimental alloy in T6 state
were 280 MPa, 175 MPa and 7.5%, respectively. Both the sec-
ond phase strengthening and the solid solution strengthen-
ing play important roles in improving the strength after T6
treatment.
(4) At 200 C, ultimate tensile strength and yield strength of the
experimental alloy are up to 145 MPa and 89 MPa, respec-
tively, which are signicantly higher than those of ZK51A
alloy.
Acknowledgments
Financial support by the National Natural Science Foundation of
China (Grant Nos. 51071129 and 51227001) and the National Basic
Research Program of China (973 Program, Grant No. 2011CB610403)
are gratefully acknowledged.
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