Effect of Ca on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Directionally Solidified Mg-Zn-Ca Alloys

摘要

The effect of Ca on the microstructure and mechanical properties of directionally solidified (DSed) Mg-3Zn-xCa alloys (x=0.2,0.5,0.8wt.%) was investigated in the present work. The results showed that the DSed samples with the growth rate of 120 μm/s had columnar dendritic structures and the primary dendritic arm spacing (PDAS) decreased with the content of Ca increase. The TEM result indicated that the growth orientation of the DSed Mg-Zn-xCa alloys was <1120>, which was independent of the content of Ca. The tensile tests at room temperature showed that the mechanical properties of the DSed Mg-Zn-xCa alloys were strongly affected by the content of Ca. The addition of Ca remarkably improved the ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and the yield strength (YS), while dramatically reduced the elongation (El). Prismatic slip and twinning were the main deformation mechanisms in tensile tests.