The present work reports the creep behavior and microstructural evolution of the sand-cast Mg–14Gd–0.4Zr alloy (wt.%) prepared by the differential pressure casting machine. Their compressive creep tests at 250 ℃ were performed under various applied stresses (i.e., 60, 80 and 100 MPa). Among them, the sand-cast Mg–14Gd–0.4Zr samples examined under 250 ℃/80 MPa for 39 and 95 h, respectively, were chosen to systemically analyze their creep mechanisms using high-angle annular dark field-scanning transmission electron microscopy (HAADF-STEM). The obtained results showed that the enhancement of creep resistance can be mainly attributed to the coherent β’ and β’_F phases with an alternate distribution, effectively impeding the basal <a> dislocations movement. However, with the creep time increasing, the fine β’+β’_F precipitate chains coarsened and transformed to semi-coherent β₁ phase and even to large incoherent β phase (surrounded by precipitate-free areas) in grain interiors. The precipitate-free zones (PFZs) at grain boundaries (GBs) were formed, and they could expand during creep deformation. Apart from the main cross-slip of basal and prismatic <a> dislocations, <c + a> type dislocations were activated and tended to distribute near the GBs. The aforementioned phenomena induced the stress concentrations, consequently leading to the increment of the creep strain.

In order to improve the ductility of commercial WE43 alloy and reduce its cost, a Mg-3Y-2Gd-1Nd-0.4Zr alloy with a low amount of rare earths was developed and prepared by sand casting with a differential pressure casting system. Its microstructure, mechanical properties and fracture behaviors in the as-cast, solution-treated and as-aged states were evaluated. It is found that the aged alloy exhibited excellent comprehensive mechanical properties owing to the fine dense plate-shaped β’ precipitates formed on prismatic habits during aging at 200 °C for 192 hrs after solution-treated at 500 °C for 24 hrs. Its ultimate tensile strength, yield strength, and elongation at ambient temperature reach to 319 ± 10 MPa, 202 ± 2 MPa and 8.7 ± 0.3% as well as 230 ± 4 MPa, 155 ± 1 MPa and 16.0 ± 0.5% at 250 °C. The fracture mode of as-aged alloy was transferred from cleavage at room temperature to quasi-cleavage and ductile fracture at the test temperature 300 °C. The properties of large-scale components fabricated using the developed Mg-3Y-2Gd-1Nd-0.4Zr alloy are better than those of commercial WE43 alloy, suggesting that the new developed alloy is a good candidate to fabricate the large complex thin-walled components.