Microstructure, mechanical and damping properties of Mg–Er–Gd–Zn alloy reinforced with stacking faults

• A novel Mg–4Er–4Gd–1Zn alloy with profuse basal plane Stacking Faults was fabricated.
• The alloy had a good combination of high mechanical and damping properties.
• The damping of the alloy with SFs can not only be explained by Granato–Lücke theory.

A novel Mg–4Er–4Gd–1Zn alloy was prepared by combined processes of direct-chill semi-continuous casting, heat-treatment and hot-extrusion. The alloy has good mechanical properties at room temperature due to the formation of profuse nano-spaced basal plane stacking faults (SFs). The ultimate tensile strength (UTS), tensile yield strength (TYS) and elongation are 358 MPa, 253 MPa and 20%, respectively. The Mg–4Er–4Gd–1Zn alloy with SFs also obtains better damping capacity compared with Mg–8Er alloy. The damping mechanism of Mg–4Er–4Gd–1Zn alloy with SFs cannot be generally included in traditional G–L theory. Influences of SFs to mechanical properties and damping capacity have been discussed, which may provide a new perspective for developing magnesium alloys with both high damping and mechanical properties.

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