Development of high strength-ductility Mg-Er extruded alloys by micro-alloying with Mn

This work systematically investigated the influence of the micro-Mn addition on the microstructures and mechanical properties of Mg-Er alloys. To investigate their deformation mechanisms during tensile testing, electron back-scattered diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, slip trace analysis, and visco-plastic self-consistent polycrystal constitutive (VPSC) modeling were used. The study showed that the as-solid solution samples only consist of the alpha-Mg phase. All samples exhibit a complete dynamic recrystallized (DRXed) microstructure with an average grain size of 2.79 mu m after hot extrusion. The ductility first increases from 26.02 % to 35.34 % and then remains unchanged with the increment of Mn content. Meanwhile, the yield strength significantly increases from 95 MPa to 200 MPa. According to VPSC results, the initial slip resistance (i0) difference between prismatic and basal slips decreases from 109 MPa to 92 MPa and i0 between pyramidal and basal slip systems from 129 MPa to 112 MPa. Both the VPSC and two-beam diffraction results confirmed that pyramidal < c+a > slip and < a > slip were activated during tensile deformation. The quantitative analysis of the slip trace line verified that the volume of non-basal slip reached 65 % when the content of Mn was increased to 0.9 wt%. Mn in solid solution increased the activity of pyramidal < c+a > and prismatic < a > dislocations during deformation, which is beneficial for accommodating c-axis strain. Consequently, the ambient ductility of Mg-2Er alloy with Mn addition is improved.(c) 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.