The microstructure and anisotropic deformation behavior of rapidly solidified ribbon consolidated Mg-Zn-X (X = Y, Gd, Nd) alloys

The paper describes the effect of the alloying elements (Y, Gd, and Nd) on the microstructure and resulting anisotropy of mechanical properties of Mg-Zn-based alloys prepared by the rapidly solidified ribbon consolidation technique. Material processing leads to the formation of a microstructure consisting of ultrafine dynamically recrystallized (DRX) α-Mg grains and worked non-DRX grains. In general, the small average grain size and overall weak texture, caused by the random orientation of small DRX grains, resulted in relatively high yield strength and moderate elongation during both tensile and compressive loading. Moreover, a reverse tension-compression yield asymmetry was achieved in the investigated alloys thanks to the microstructure features of the investigated alloys, namely the presence of different types of precipitates and/or cluster-arranged layers (CALs) of solute atoms-rich stacking faults in the α-Mg matrix.