No abstract

AZ61 Mg alloy contains Al and Zn, and it has a good combination of castability, strength and ductility. However, the effect of other alloying elements on AZ61 is seldom investigated. Lead is a cheap metallic material, though its vapor is hazardous, a small amount of Pb as an alloying addition will not have significant influence on the application of Mg alloys. Studies showed that the Pb addition suppresses the formation and growth of discontinuous precipitation in AZ91 alloy. In our study, a small amount of Pb element was added into the AZ61 alloy. Mechanical properties of the alloy have been improved. The microstructures were examined by the optical microscopy (OP), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive spectrometry (EDS). The elemental distribution with Pb alloying was explicitly studied. This alloy composed of [Formula: see text]-Mg phase and [Formula: see text]-Mg[Formula: see text]Al[Formula: see text] phase, while Pb element inclined to distribute in [Formula: see text]-Mg rather than in [Formula: see text]-Mg[Formula: see text]Al[Formula: see text] phase.

Much attention has been paid to Mg alloys given that Mg alloys are the most promising lightweight metallic material. They have found applications in automobile and other fields where weight saving is of great significance. Mg – Al – Zn alloy system (AZ series), including AZ91 and AZ61 Mg alloys, is widely used in industry. We have studied the enhancement of mechanical properties by adding alloying elements Sn and Pb . This paper reports our study on the microstructure and element distribution of the alloys with small amounts of tin ( Sn ) and lead ( Pb ) additions.