Effect of Ce/La microalloying on microstructural evolution of Mg-Zn-Ca alloy during solution treatment

The effect of Ce/La misch metal addition on the microstructural evolution of as-cast and as-soluted Mg-5.3Zn-0.5Ca (wt.%) alloys was systematically investigated. It was found that Ce/La could effectively refine the as-cast alloy and restrain grain growth during solution treatment, which was derived from the constitutional supercooling during solidification process and the formation of stable intermetallic compounds CeMg12 and Mg17La2. Furthermore, Ce/La microalloying and solution treatment resulted in an evolution from the original lamellar Ca2Mg6Zn3/α-Mg to the divorced eutectic structure. The thermal stability of Mg-Zn-Ca alloy could be effectively improved by Ce/La addition, because the low-melting-point binary Mg-Zn phase was transformed to MgxZny-Ca-(Ce/La) phase with higher thermal stability and the amount of Ca2Mg6Zn3/α-Mg eutectic structure was reduced.

Grain size against solution treatment time curves of Mg-Zn-Ca-xCe/La alloysFigure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide