Effects of CeO2 Content on the Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of ZK60 Mg Alloy

doi:10.1007/s40195-024-01785-y

Abstract

Abstract:

This study primarily investigates the effect of CeO₂ content on the microstructure and mechanical properties of ZK60 Mg alloy. The results indicate that CeO₂ can be reduced by Mg to elemental Ce, predominantly in the form of the Mg-Zn-Ce phase. The addition of CeO₂ notably refines the grain size of as-cast ZK60 Mg alloy, with the Mg-Zn-Ce phase primarily distributed along grain boundaries. After extrusion, grain size increases and then decreases with increasing CeO₂ content, while the dynamic recrystallization (DRX) fraction gradually reduces. This behavior is chiefly attributed to the hindrance of the DRX process by a high density of second phases and the restriction of recrystallized grains growth by fine particles. The basal texture intensity increases progressively with the addition of CeO₂. As the CeO₂ content rises, the yield strength (YS) and elongation (EL) of the alloys show significant improvement. The increase in YS is mainly due to the combined effects of grain refinement strengthening and dispersion strengthening. In contrast, the enhanced EL is closely related to the heterogeneous structure of the grains. Notably, the ZK60-1.2CeO₂ alloy exhibits the ultimate tensile strength, YS and EL of 274 MPa, 160 MPa and 17.3%, respectively.

Key words: Magnesium alloy, Rare earth oxides, Microstructure, Mechanical property

Wei Qiu, Shuang-Long Li, Zhao-Yuan Lu, Sen-Mao Zhang, Jian Chen, Wei Chen, Lang Gan, Wei Li, Yan-Jie Ren, Jun Luo, Mao-Hai Yao, Wen Xie. Effects of CeO₂ Content on the Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of ZK60 Mg Alloy[J]. Acta Metallurgica Sinica (English Letters), 2025, 38(2): 287-298.

Figures/Tables 16

Table 1 Actual chemical composition of ZK60-xCeO2 alloys

Materials	Compositions (wt%)
Materials	Zn	Zr	Ce	Mg
ZK60	6.62	0.24	-	Bal.
ZK60-0.6CeO₂	5.87	0.30	0.48	Bal.
ZK60-1.2CeO₂	5.86	0.26	0.87	Bal.

Fig. 1 Optical micrographs and low-magnification SEM images of the as-cast ZK60-xCeO2 alloys: a, d ZK60, b, e ZK60-0.6CeO2, c, f ZK60-1.2CeO2

Fig. 2 XRD patterns of the as-cast ZK60-xCeO2 alloys: a ZK60, b ZK60-0.6CeO2, c ZK60-1.2CeO2

Fig. 3 High-magnification SEM images of the as-cast ZK60-xCeO2 alloys: a ZK60, b ZK60-0.6CeO2, c ZK60-1.2CeO2

Table 2 EDS results of points A-F in Fig. 3

Alloy	Point	Mg		Zn		Zr		Ce		O
Alloy	Point	wt%	at.%	wt%	at.%	wt%	at.%	wt%	at.%	wt%	at.%
ZK60	A	28.35	51.56	71.35	48.28	0.12	0.06	-	-	-	-
ZK60	B	44.30	68.15	55.56	31.79	0.14	0.06	-	-	-	-
ZK60-0.6CeO₂	C	41.65	67.44	40.48	24.38	0.21	0.09	16.22	4.56	1.44	3.53
ZK60-0.6CeO₂	D	35.57	62.07	43.96	28.53	0.00	0.00	19.10	5.78	1.36	3.61
ZK60-1.2CeO₂	E	52.11	76.03	32.69	17.74	0.06	0.02	13.92	3.52	1.21	2.68
ZK60-1.2CeO₂	F	51.64	75.66	33.40	18.20	0.00	0.00	13.78	3.50	1.18	2.64

Fig. 4 Optical micrographs and low-magnification SEM images of the extruded ZK60-xCeO2 alloys: a, d ZK60, b, e ZK60-0.6CeO2, c, f ZK60-1.2CeO2

Fig. 5 SEM images and EDS elemental mapping of the extruded ZK60 Mg alloy: a, b SEM images and mapping of b1 Mg, b2 Zn, b3 Zr

Fig. 6 SEM images and EDS elemental mapping of the extruded ZK60-xCeO2 alloys: a, b ZK60-0.6CeO2, c, d ZK60-1.2CeO2 and mapping of b1, d1 Mg, b2, d2 Zn, b3, d3 Zr, b4, d4 Ce, b5, d5 O

Fig. 7 EBSD patterns of the extruded ZK60-xCeO2 alloys: a ZK60, b ZK60-0.6CeO2, c ZK60-1.2CeO2

Fig. 8 Grain size distribution diagrams of the extruded ZK60-xCeO2 alloys: a ZK60, b ZK60-0.6CeO2, c ZK60-1.2CeO2

Fig. 9 Distribution of recrystallized grains, deformed grains and KAM maps for the extruded ZK60-xCeO2 alloys: a-c ZK60, d-f ZK60-0.6CeO2, g-i ZK60-1.2CeO2

Fig. 10 Pole figures of the extruded ZK60-xCeO2 alloys: a ZK60, b ZK60-0.6CeO2, c ZK60-1.2CeO2

Fig. 11 Pole figures of the (0001) plane for recrystallized and deformed grains in the extruded ZK60-xCeO2 alloys: a, d ZK60, b, e ZK60-0.6CeO2, c, f ZK60-1.2CeO2

Fig. 12 Engineering stress-strain curves of the extruded ZK60-xCeO2 alloys at room temperature

Table 3 Tensile properties of extruded ZK60-xCeO2 alloys

	UTS (MPa)	YS (MPa)	EL (%)
ZK60	267 ± 1	140 ± 2	14.6 ± 0.3
ZK60-0.6CeO₂	265 ± 1	147 ± 2	16.0 ± 0.1
ZK60-1.2CeO₂	274 ± 3	160 ± 3	17.3 ± 0.1

Fig. 13 Fracture surfaces of the extruded ZK60-xCeO2 alloys: a ZK60, b ZK60-0.6CeO2, c ZK60-1.2CeO2

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Effects of CeO₂ Content on the Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of ZK60 Mg Alloy

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