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Refinement of the Magnesium–Aluminium Alloy Microstructure with Zirconium

The magnesium–aluminium alloy AZ91 was inoculated with zirconium to refine the microstructure. Six different concentrations of zirconium content were tested, ranging from 0.1 to 0.6 wt %, and compared to the baseline AZ91 alloy without modification. Melted metal was poured into a preheated ceramic m...

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Autores principales: Rapiejko, Cezary, Mikusek, Dominik, Januszewicz, Bartłomiej, Kubiak, Krzysztof J., Pacyniak, Tadeusz
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9786788/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36556786
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ma15248982
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author Rapiejko, Cezary
Mikusek, Dominik
Januszewicz, Bartłomiej
Kubiak, Krzysztof J.
Pacyniak, Tadeusz
author_facet Rapiejko, Cezary
Mikusek, Dominik
Januszewicz, Bartłomiej
Kubiak, Krzysztof J.
Pacyniak, Tadeusz
author_sort Rapiejko, Cezary
collection PubMed
description The magnesium–aluminium alloy AZ91 was inoculated with zirconium to refine the microstructure. Six different concentrations of zirconium content were tested, ranging from 0.1 to 0.6 wt %, and compared to the baseline AZ91 alloy without modification. Melted metal was poured into a preheated ceramic mould and the temperature was measured and recorded during the solidification. The derivative and thermal analysis (DTA) was performed to compare the crystallisation dynamics. Formed microstructure was analysed using an optical microscope, scanning electron microscopy (SEM-EDX) and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (XRD). The chemical composition was measured using an arc spectrometer. The time of solidification was shortened for the samples with a concentration of zirconium 0.3 wt % and the microstructure was refined. The level of grain refinement remained below 10% and the grain shape was changed to more spherical shapes. Both the primary magnesium and eutectic phases were modified. However, at a low concentration of zirconium (0.1 and 0.2 wt %), the primary grain size was increased. Therefore, the optimal zirconium concentration was 0.3 wt %. Larger concentrations (0.4 to 0.6 wt %) did not provide any additional benefit. Theoretical analysis showed that some Al(3)Zr intermetallic phases can form, which was confirmed on the derivate curve of the thermal analysis, and SEM-EDS and XRD analyses.
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spelling pubmed-97867882022-12-24 Refinement of the Magnesium–Aluminium Alloy Microstructure with Zirconium Rapiejko, Cezary Mikusek, Dominik Januszewicz, Bartłomiej Kubiak, Krzysztof J. Pacyniak, Tadeusz Materials (Basel) Article The magnesium–aluminium alloy AZ91 was inoculated with zirconium to refine the microstructure. Six different concentrations of zirconium content were tested, ranging from 0.1 to 0.6 wt %, and compared to the baseline AZ91 alloy without modification. Melted metal was poured into a preheated ceramic mould and the temperature was measured and recorded during the solidification. The derivative and thermal analysis (DTA) was performed to compare the crystallisation dynamics. Formed microstructure was analysed using an optical microscope, scanning electron microscopy (SEM-EDX) and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (XRD). The chemical composition was measured using an arc spectrometer. The time of solidification was shortened for the samples with a concentration of zirconium 0.3 wt % and the microstructure was refined. The level of grain refinement remained below 10% and the grain shape was changed to more spherical shapes. Both the primary magnesium and eutectic phases were modified. However, at a low concentration of zirconium (0.1 and 0.2 wt %), the primary grain size was increased. Therefore, the optimal zirconium concentration was 0.3 wt %. Larger concentrations (0.4 to 0.6 wt %) did not provide any additional benefit. Theoretical analysis showed that some Al(3)Zr intermetallic phases can form, which was confirmed on the derivate curve of the thermal analysis, and SEM-EDS and XRD analyses. MDPI 2022-12-15 /pmc/articles/PMC9786788/ /pubmed/36556786 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ma15248982 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Rapiejko, Cezary
Mikusek, Dominik
Januszewicz, Bartłomiej
Kubiak, Krzysztof J.
Pacyniak, Tadeusz
Refinement of the Magnesium–Aluminium Alloy Microstructure with Zirconium
title Refinement of the Magnesium–Aluminium Alloy Microstructure with Zirconium
title_full Refinement of the Magnesium–Aluminium Alloy Microstructure with Zirconium
title_fullStr Refinement of the Magnesium–Aluminium Alloy Microstructure with Zirconium
title_full_unstemmed Refinement of the Magnesium–Aluminium Alloy Microstructure with Zirconium
title_short Refinement of the Magnesium–Aluminium Alloy Microstructure with Zirconium
title_sort refinement of the magnesium–aluminium alloy microstructure with zirconium
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9786788/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36556786
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ma15248982
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AT kubiakkrzysztofj refinementofthemagnesiumaluminiumalloymicrostructurewithzirconium
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