Investigation on microstructures and properties of rapidly solidified Mg–6 wt.% Zn–5 wt.% Ca–3 wt.% Ce alloy

Abstract The Mg–6Zn–5Ca–3Ce (wt.%) alloy flakes were produced via twin-roll rapid solidification and analyzed by XRD, TEM and micro-hardness testing. The rapidly solidified Mg–6Zn–5Ca–3Ce in wt.% alloy was composed of Mg, Mg 2 Ca, Ca 2 Mg 6 Zn 3 , Mg 12 Ce and a small quantity of Mg 51 Zn 20 , Mg 2 Zn 3 and MgZn 2 . The alloy exhibited significant age-hardening response and the maximum hardness was 162.4 ± 5.5 Hv after annealing at 200 °C for 1 h, which mainly resulted from the uniform distribution of the Ca 2 Mg 6 Zn 3 precipitates within the grains according to XRD and TEM. The precipitates at the grain boundaries were identified as Mg 2 Ca and Mg 12 Ce, beneficial to the enhanced thermal stability of the alloy.