Effect of Y addition on the aging hardening behavior and precipitation evolution of extruded Mg-Al-Zn alloys

The 443 K aging hardening behavior and microstructure evolution of extruded Mg-Al-Zn-Y alloys was investigated in aspects of yttrium (Y) content (0.2-0.8 wt%), holding time (0.5-156 h) and the initial states (as-extruded, solution treated). The grain size, precipitation evolution, phases and chemical composition were characterized by the optical microscope, scanning electron microscope, X-ray diffraction, and energy dispersive spectrometer, respectively. The corresponding mechanical response, including the hardness, uniaxial tensile strength were measured with the Vickers hardness tester and universal testing machine, respectively. The results show that, firstly, there is reversal hardness anisotropy between extrusion direction and normal direction in as-extruded Mg-Al-Zn-Y sheets compared with T5 treated ones. Secondly, the short-term aging softening exist at the beginning of T5 treatment which results in a lower hardness even be close to that of solution treated ones, but not for T6 conditions. Thirdly, the suppression of discontinuous precipitation during the aging treatment become more remarkable with increasing Y addition which because of the reduction of diffusional coherency strain near grain boundary, increasing activation energy for the discontinuous precipitates (β-Mg17Al12 phase, DPs) formation and the dilution region of Al near the Al2Y. Serrated GBs can also provide more nucleation sites for DPs and lead to relatively more precipitates during T5 treatment. Moreover, the proportional precipitation strengthening in yield strength and hardness was verified in Mg-Al-Zn-Y alloy during the aging process.