Effect of Y‐Element on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of As‐Cast Mg‐3Zn‐1Mn Alloy Containing I and W Phase

Magnesium (Mg) alloy has a wide range of applications in the biomedical field at present. The Mg-Zn-Mn ternary alloy has excellent corrosion resistance, but the addition of Mn element reduces the ductility of the alloy. In this study, a little rare earth element Y is added to the Mg-Zn-Mn ternary alloy to improve the mechanical properties of the alloy, especially the ductility. Experimental results show that the second phase composition and mechanical properties of the alloys are improved by introducing the new second phase (quasicrystal I phase Mg3Zn6Y and W phase Mg3Zn3Y2). When the content of rare earth element Y is 1 wt%, the mechanical properties of the as-cast alloy are optimized that the tensile strength is increased by 60 MPa compared with the Mg-Zn-Mn alloy, reaching 198 MPa. The elongation increased from 9% to 21%; therefore, the ductility of the material is greatly improved.