SOLIDIFICATION ANALYSIS OF A MAGNESIUM-ZINC ALLOY USING IN-SITU NEUTRON DIFFRACTION

摘要

This research outlines some of the experimental procedures and data analysis techniques used to examine the solidification of a magnesium-5 wt.% zinc alloy using in-situ neutron diffraction. The magnesium-5 wt.% zinc alloy was first melted in a graphite crucible and cooled from 660 to 200℃ while being irradiated by neutrons as it solidified. The resulting castings were characterized using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The alloy had a coarse irregular grain structure containing a Mg matrix with Mg-Zn intermetallics. The in-situ neutron diffraction results showed that fraction solid curves can be generated for lower intensity planes such as (1120) by using larger sample sizes and oscillation. Improvement in fraction solid analysis was obtained by examining the neutron diffraction intensity of the samples well below its solidus temperature.