Effects of Yb on the mechanical properties and microstructures of an Al–Mg alloy

This paper reported a first study of the effects of Yb on the microstructures and mechanical properties of an extruded Al–Mg alloy. It has been shown that the addition of 0.3 wt.% Yb decreases the mechanical properties of the alloy since Mg- and Yb-containing constituents decrease the concentration of Mg solute atoms in Al matrix, and thus the solution strengthening effect. However, the addition of 1 wt.% Yb substantially improves the mechanical behavior of the alloy because the concentration of Yb solute atoms in Al matrix is high enough to generate solution strengthening effect. The improvement in the mechanical properties is due to the large work-hardening and high dislocation density caused by the interaction between dislocations and Yb and Mg solute atoms. The Yb and Mg atoms inhibit the dynamic recovery and recrystallization of the alloy, thus provide a uniformly distributed dislocation structure with high density.