TY  - JOUR
AU  - Xu, Zhe
AU  - Li, Zhuo
AU  - Shen, Chunjie
AU  - Zheng, Dongdong
AU  - Tu, Yuxuan
PY  - 2025
TI  - Additive manufacturing high-strength and ultra-high-rare-earth magnesium alloys: Excellent long-time aging hardening and strengthening behavior
JO  - Journal of Magnesium and Alloys
SN  - 2213-9567
SP  - 3829
EP  - 3846
VL  - 13
IS  - 8
AB  - Gadolinium (Gd) is one of the most effective strengthening elements for magnesium alloys. The development of commercially available Mg-Gd alloys with high Gd content and the optimization of their preparation processes have been a major focus in magnesium alloy research. In this study, a Mg-23Gd-2Zn-0.4Zr alloy with ultra-high Gd content is designed, and high-quality fabrication is achieved using laser-directed energy deposition (LDED) technology. Through heat treatment and microstructure control, a balance between tensile strength (425 MPa) and elongation (3.4%) is achieved. The ultra-high strength of the LDED-T6 VZ232K alloy is primarily attributed to precipitation strengthening caused by the ultra-high density (2.4 × 104 µm-2) of β′ phase. The high ductility is mainly due to the modification of the fracture mode, facilitated by the introduction of a substantial number of stacking fault structures during solution heat treatment. The extended hardness plateau (exceeding 138 Hv) and high yield strength (exceeding 300 MPa) are associated with the three-directional cross-interlocked structure of the β′ phase in the over-aged state at 220 ℃ and 250 ℃. The analysis of the LDED-VZ232K alloy indicates that reduced heat input during the additive manufacturing (AM) process is critical for the defect-free fabrication of alloys with ultra-high Gd content.
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jma.2025.04.007
DO  - 10.1016/j.jma.2025.04.007