Precipitation hardening of Zr-modified Mg–Ca–Zn alloy

Effects of Zr addition on as cast microstructure, tensile and creep properties of Mg–3·8Zn–2·2Ca magnesium alloy

“…Furthermore, it is observed that adding 0?19-0?81 wt-%Zr to the Mg-3?8Zn-2?2Ca alloy does not cause the formation of any new phases such as the Zn 2 Zr phase which has been reported in the solutionised Mg-4?2Zn-1?49Ca alloy with the addition of 1 wt-%Zr. 13 In general, the difficult degree in forming an intermetallic can be estimated by the electronegative difference between different elements. The higher the electronegative difference, the easier the intermetallic formation.…”

“…At present, some investigations related to the microstructures and mechanical properties of Zr containing Mg-Zn-Ca alloys have been reported. [13][14][15][16] Shepelev et al 13 reported that adding 1 wt-%Zr to a Mg-4?2Zn-1?49Ca (wt-%) alloy leads to a substantially refined microstructure. Homma et al 14 investigated the effect of the addition of 0?8 wt-%Zr on the mechanical properties of an as extruded Mg-6Zn-0?2Ca alloy, and found that Zr addition is beneficial to refine the grains and to disperse fine and dense MgZn 2 precipitates involving Ca and Zr, which results in a significant improvement in the strengths.…”