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Journal of Magnesium and Alloys 5 (2017) 239–253
www.elsevier.com/journals/journal-of-magnesium-and-alloys/2213-9567

Review
Recent research and developments on wrought magnesium alloys
Sihang You, Yuanding Huang *, Karl Ulrich Kainer, Norbert Hort
MagIC-Magnesium Innovation Centre, Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht, Max-Planck-Str. 1, D-21502 Geesthacht, Federal Republic of Germany
Received 15 March 2017; accepted 4 September 2017
Available online 28 September 2017

Abstract
Wrought magnesium alloys attract special interests as lightweight structural material due to their homogeneous microstructure and enhanced
mechanical properties compared to as-cast alloys. In this contribution, recent research and developments on wrought magnesium alloys are
reviewed from the viewpoint of the alloy design, focusing on Mg-Al, Mg-Zn and Mg-rare earth (RE) systems. The effects of different alloying
elements on the microstructure and mechanical properties are described considering their strengthening mechanisms, e.g. grain refinement,
precipitation and texture hardening effect. Finally, the new alloy design and also the future research of wrought magnesium alloys to improve their
mechanical properties are discussed.
© 2017 Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Chongqing University.
This is an open access article under CC BY-NC-ND license. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Keywords: Wrought magnesium alloys; Alloy design; Mechanical properties

1. Introduction production in China. Based on the previous investigations,

researchers have developed new Mg alloys with high strength
Magnesium alloy is one of the most promising lightweight
by the modification of the existing commercial alloy systems
metals for structural applications owing to its high specific
[4,5]or the designation of new alloy systems [6], making full
strength, low density and high damping capacity. Owing to its
use of grain refinement strengthening, precipitation strengthen-
hexagonal crystal structure with insufficient slip systems, its
ing and texture strengthening effect. For example, a high
low temperature formality is not so satisfied. Additionally,
strength Mg-Y-Zn alloy which was produced by rapidly solidi-
its strength is also low because of easy activation of basal slip.
fied powder metallurgy exhibits remarkable mechanical prop-
Its present applications are still limited. Currently, most of
erties with a tensile yield stress (TYS) of 610 MPa and an
commercial components were fabricated with die casting, while
elongation of 5% [7]. In addition, advanced processing, such as
the use of wrought magnesium alloys is very few with less than
hot extrusion, rolling, forging and equal-channel angular pro-
10%. How to improve the low temperature ductility and
cessing (ECAP), is an effective technique to refine the micro-
strength plays a very important role in extending the applica-
structure and to improve the mechanical properties of Mg
tions of magnesium alloys, especially the applications of
alloys. A Mg-10Gd-5.7Y-1.6Zn-0.7Zr alloy with a TYS of
wrought magnesium alloys [1].
473 MPa and an elongation of 8% had been successfully fab-
There has been a large amount of works on enhancing the
ricated by hot extrusion and subsequent ageing [8]. Yu et al [9]
mechanical properties of Mg alloys, in order to further extend
developed a high strength Mg-11Gd-4.5Y-1Nd-1.5Zn-0.5Zr
their industrial applications in automobile and aerospace indus-
(wt.%) alloy with a TYS of 482 MPa, an ultimate tensile
tries. In the past decades, many commercial wrought Mg alloy
strength (UTS) of 517 MPa and an elongation to failure of 2%
systems have been developed, such as AZ system, ZK system,
at room temperature via the combinative processing of hot
WE system and so on [2,3], the first large scale industrial line
extrusion, cold rolling and ageing treatment.
for magnesium sheet in the world has been put into mass
In this review, recent development of wrought Mg alloys in
the past decade will be reviewed from the viewpoint of alloy
* Corresponding author. MagIC-Magnesium Innovation Centre, Helmholtz-
designs, including Mg-Al system, Mg-Zn and Mg-RE system.
Zentrum Geesthacht, Max-Planck-Str. 1, D-21502 Geesthacht, Germany. Furthermore, the new alloy design and the future researches for
E-mail address: [email protected] (Y. Huang). wrought Mg alloys will be proposed.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jma.2017.09.001
2213-9567/© 2017 Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Chongqing University.
This is an open access article under CC BY-NC-ND license. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
240 S. You et al. / Journal of Magnesium and Alloys 5 (2017) 239–253

2. Mg-Al system (Fig. 1), and a formation of 30~50 nm plate-like Al2Ca particles
precipitated inside grains (Fig. 2), thus, a good mechanical
Mg-Al based alloys are the most widely used wrought Mg
property [14]. Similar results were found in a Ca containing
alloys as structural materials, as the addition of Al improves the
AZ31 alloy which exhibited finer grains and performed a higher
strength, ductility and castability of Mg alloys at room tempera-
ductility compared with the Ca free AZ31 alloy after
ture [10]. However, the Mg17Al12 (β) phase formed along the
thermomechanical processing, however, the distribution of
grain boundaries has a relatively low melting temperature
grain boundaries and crystallographic texture are similar
(710 K), which leads to the microstructure instability over
(Fig. 3) [15]. Furthermore, Kwak et al [4] investigated the hot
400 K. This results in the grain boundary sliding and, thus, the
compressive behavior of the extruded 0.5 wt.% Ca-AZ31 alloy,
degradation of mechanical properties of the Mg-Al alloys at
and it was found that the addition of Ca led to a noticeable grain
elevated temperatures [11]. Additionally, the edge-cracking
refinement and a more homogeneous microstructure. Also,
during rolling, the strong basal texture, and the non-
compared to the extruded Ca free AZ31 alloy, the extruded 0.5
homogeneous grain sizes limit the formability of Mg-Al alloys
wt.% Ca-AZ31 alloy had a better formability at high tempera-
at room temperature. In this regard, several elements were used
tures (573–673 K) but a poorer formability at lower tempera-
to optimize the microstructure of Mg-Al alloys. Series like
tures. This is because Al2Ca phase would disperse in the matrix
Mg-Al-Zn (AZ), Mg-Al-Mn (AM) and Mg-Al-Si (AS) have
at high temperatures which can promote the dynamic recrystal-
been widely used, as Zn improves the ambient temperature
lization and retard the grain coarsening. In addition, Shang et al
mechanical properties and Mn, Si improve the creep resistance
[16] investigated the microstructure and the elevated tempera-
of Mg-Al alloys [3,12]. In addition, the modifications of com-
ture deformation behavior of hot-rolled AZ31 microalloyed
mercial Mg-Al system alloys through adding Ca, Li, Sr, Sn, RE
with Ca, Sr and Ce. It was found that the addition of Ca, Sr and
(rare earth) and so on were deeply investigated in the last
Ce did not change the deformation mechanism under different
decade.
temperatures and strain rates, but has an obvious effect on the
ductility of AZ31 alloy under the high temperatures and low
2.1. Modified AZ series
strain rate condition (e.g. 723 K and 0.0003 s−1), under which
The addition of calcium to Mg-Al alloys can result in the the elongation to failure increased from 347% (AZ31) to 406%
formation of thermally stable Al2Ca phase with higher melting (AZ31 containing Ca only), 437% (AZ31 containing Ca and
temperature of 1352 K [13], the presence of which can mark- Ce), and 552% (AZ31 containing Ca, Sr and Ce), respectively.
edly increase the strength and creep properties of Mg-Al alloys. The results showed that the addition of Ca, Sr and Ce restricted
Jiang et al. improved the UTS, YS and elongation of extruded the grain coarsening during hot deformation, and thus increased
Mg-2.32Al alloy to 324 MPa, 275 MPa and 10.2%, respec- the ductility.
tively, by the addition of 1.7 wt.% Ca. It was found that the Li is another potential element to optimize the microstructure
addition of Ca to the extruded Mg-Al alloy resulted in a remark- of Mg-Al alloys, since Li possesses low density and promotes
able grain refinement, a sharply broken of Al2Ca phases cross-slip and non-basal slip in Mg alloys [17,18]. Pan’s research

Fig. 1. Optical images of the as-extruded alloys: (a) Mg-0.61Al-0.46Ca; (b) Mg-1.34Al-1.03Ca; (c) Mg-2.32Al-1.70Ca; (d) Mg-3.74Al-2.52Ca [14].
 S. You et al. / Journal of Magnesium and Alloys 5 (2017) 239–253 241

Fig. 2. (a) Bright-field TEM image of Mg-2.32Al-1.70Ca in regions of fine particles; (b) corresponding SAED pattern of the Al2Ca phase, taken from the [0001]
zone axis [14];.

Fig. 3. (0001) pole figures and the fractions of misorientation angles for (a) AZ31, (b) AZ31 + 0.7Ca, (c) AZ31 + 2.0Ca alloys [15].
242 S. You et al. / Journal of Magnesium and Alloys 5 (2017) 239–253

Table 1 Table 2
Lattice parameters of Mg solid solutions [24]. Tensile properties of the as-extruded alloys with different tensile directions with
Alloy a (Å) c (Å) c/a Volume the ED [24].
(Å3) Alloy UTS (MPa) YS (MPa) E (%)
AZ31 3.2044 ± 0.002 5.2055 ± 0.004 1.6245 ± 0.001 46.29 ED 45° TD ED 45° TD ED 45° TD
AZ31-1Li 3.1990 ± 0.004 5.1876 ± 0.006 1.6216 ± 0.002 45.97 AZ31 250 228 227 177 91 70 15 23 16
AZ31-3Li 3.1934 ± 0.004 5.1487 ± 0.002 1.6170 ± 0.002 45.47 AZ31-1Li 246 227 243 168 116 109 14 26 21
AZ31-5Li 3.1864 ± 0.004 5.1278 ± 0.004 1.6082 ± 0.001 45.09 AZ31-3Li 232 213 233 157 101 91 18 30 27
AZ31-5Li 229 210 242 161 112 113 18 31 25

group in Chongqing University did a lot of works focused on

the mechanical properties and deformation behavior of wrought strong in the as-extruded AZ31 sheet (Fig. 4), and also randomized
Mg-Al-Zn-Li alloys [19–24], and these investigations are of the distribution of grain boundaries orientation (Fig. 5). The
great value. It is found [24] that Li has a relatively high solubility modified texture, decreased c/a ratio value and recrystallized
in Mg alloys (even 5.5 wt.% at room temperature), which grains caused by the Li addition attributed to the enhanced
means Li could significantly alter the lattice parameters of Mg ductility and reduced planar anisotropy of AZ31 alloy, but Li
solid solutions, and as a result, the c/a ratio of AZ31 alloy was addition did not have a remarkable effect on the tensile strength,
significantly reduced with the increasing content of Li as shown which was shown in Table 2. Based on the investigation above,
in Table 1. Furthermore, the increasing addition of Li remarkably Pan’s group [21] developed an extruded Mg-3Li-3Al-Zn alloy
increased the rotation of basal poles in transverse direction sheet with weak planar anisotropy by pre-deformation and
(TD), reduced the intensity of the basal texture which was subsequently annealing. It was found that although the addition

Fig. 4. (0002) pole figures of the as-extruded alloys; (a) AZ31, (b) AZ31-1Li, (c) AZ31-3Li, (d) AZ31-5Li [24].

Fig. 5. EBSD results; (a) IPF map, (b) misorientation angle distribution of the extruded AZ31-5Li [24].
 S. You et al. / Journal of Magnesium and Alloys 5 (2017) 239–253 243

Fig. 6. EBSD results of the various pre-stretched samples: (a) 2.3% pre-strain, (b) 5.4% pre-strain, (c) 8% pre-strain [21].

of Li could significantly weaken the intensity of the strong textures under different processing conditions. An improved
basal texture in AZ31 alloy and thereby promoted the tensile rollability was observed with the increase in rolling temperature
properties, the unconventional c-axis parallel to TD texture and Li alloying additions to AZ31 alloy, which was resulted
would lead to an obvious planar anisotropy under the deformation from the promoted activation of non-basal slip and the texture
with different directions, which had a detrimental effect on the modification. The microstructure and mechanical properties of
subsequent plastic deformation process. The further investigation Mg-Al-Zn alloy with high level of Li content was investigated
on the strain hardening behavior of Mg-3Li-3Al-Zn sheet showed by Meng et al., and the as-rolled Mg-1Al-1Zn-8Li exhibited
that, as the {10–12} twins were easy to generate when the both high tensile strength and elongation which were 233.38 MPa
sample was stretched along TD, the quantity of {10–12} extension and 9.2%, respectively [27].
twins first increased and then reduced with the increasing In the previous studies, strontium (Sr) has been used to
pre-deformation along TD, and most of grains were twined improve the elevated temperature mechanical properties of
when the pre-strain reached at 5.4%, as shown in Fig. 6. The Mg-Al based alloys due to the formation of thermally stable
large amount of twins and twin intersections with various Al4Sr phase with a high melting point (1013 K) [28]. Guan et al
orientations led to a four-peak texture of the pre-stretched [29]. improved the UTS and elongation of AZ80 to 355 MPa
5.4% sample, which could provide relatively random driving and 13.2%, respectively, by the addition of 0.02 wt.% Sr
force so as to promote a random growth of recrystallized grains through a double hot-extrusion. It was also reported that the
during the subsequently annealing. It is indicated that the addition of Sr could decrease the solubility of Al in Mg alloys
pre-deformation followed annealing process significantly as well as suppress the formation of β-Mg17Al12 which has a
minimized the anisotropic properties of the extruded Mg-3Li- negative effect on the high temperature mechanical properties
3Al-Zn alloy sheet due to the modified weak basal texture and of Mg-Al alloys [30]. A systematic study of the microstructure
recrystallized grains showed in Fig. 7. Recently, a novel and texture evolution of AZ31 alloyed with 0.4 and 0.8 wt.% Sr
asymmetric processing method, composite extrusion (CE), had during extrusion at 250 and 350 °C has been conducted by
been developed by Pan et al [25], which was identified to Sadeghi et al [31]. The texture in this work was described as the
apparently improve the hot deformation performance and distribution of prismatic planes perpendicular to ED (Fig. 8).
mechanical properties of Mg-Al-Zn alloys. This is a very The results showed a strong basal fiber texture in all alloys after
promising method with low processing cost, and is being used deformation. Compared to the Sr free AZ31 alloy, the strength
to further improve the mechanical properties of the Li-bearing of fiber texture in Sr containing AZ31 alloy increased with the
Mg-Al-Zn alloys. Moreover, Mackenzie and Pekguleryuz [26] increasing Sr content during extrusion at 250 °C but decreased
have investigated the addition of Li to hot-extruded AZ31 at 350 °C. The different trends of texture evolution with Sr
sheet and studied its effects on rolling microstructures and addition were explained by the different recrystallization
244 S. You et al. / Journal of Magnesium and Alloys 5 (2017) 239–253

Fig. 7. Microstructure and texture of the different pre-stretched and annealed samples: (a) 2.3% pre-strain, (b) 5.4% pre-strain, (c) 8% pre-strain [21].

mechanisms at these temperatures. During extrusion at 350 °C, grain boundaries played a dominant role in DRX while PSN
the large Al-Sr particles were broken into tiny precipitates was not significant, which resulted in a strong fiber texture.
stored inside the Al-Sr stringers which were able to be potential However, at high temperatures and high content of Sr addition,
particle-stimulated nucleation (PSN) sites for recrystallization, the grain boundaries bulging mechanism was instead by PSN
and more Sr addition formed more Al-Sr precipitates which led due to the easier dislocations slip and the increased amount of
to an increased amount of recrystallized grains without ring Al-Sr precipitates, which contributed to texture weakening.
basal texture growing via PSN and therefore reduced the fiber The two types of β-Mg17Al12 precipitates in Mg-Al based
texture intensity. While extruding at 250 °C, the decreased Al alloys were discontinuous precipitates and continuous precipi-
solid solubility in Mg caused by the increased Sr content could tates [33]. The previous investigation about the effect of Sn
lead to the lower solute drag and easier dislocations slip. Due to content on the precipitates of AZ91 by Li et al [34] indicated
the weakened solute drag effect, the dynamic recrystallization that the increasing Sn addition could significantly restrain the
(DRX) were activated via grain boundaries and the new grains formation of discontinuous β-Mg17Al12 precipitates. Other
with the same texture as parent grains nucleated and grown, results [35,36] showed that more Sn addition (up to 4~5 wt.%)
which resulted in the texture strengthening. could not only reduce the discontinuous precipitates but also
The further investigation on the hot deformation behaviors increase the density of plate shaped fine continuous precipi-
of Sr containing AZ31 showed different DRX mechanisms acti- tates, and thus an enhanced mechanical property compared to
vated at different extrusion temperatures and levels of Sr addi- Sn free AZ91 alloy. Moreover, the melting point of Mg2Sn
tion [32]. The mechanism map during extrusion of AZ31-Sr phase (1043 K) is much higher than the melting point of β
alloys was shown in Fig. 9. It was found that, at low levels of Sr, phase, so that the Mg-Al alloys containing Sn exhibited better

Fig. 8. (a) The basal and prismatic planes of Mg alloys. (b) The location of texture measurement. (c) The distribution of prismatic planes along the extrusion direction
for AZ31 + 0.8%Sr extruded at 250 °C [31].
 S. You et al. / Journal of Magnesium and Alloys 5 (2017) 239–253 245

of as-extruded AZ31 alloy and obtained the highest yield

strength of 209 MPa with 0.5wt.% Y addition, which was prob-
ably related to formation of Al2Y phase. Similarly, Fang et al
[52] found that the fraction of Al2Y phase increased while the
content of Mg17Al12 phase decreased with the increasing Y
addition in hot-rolled AZ61 alloy. The optimal comprehensive
mechanical properties were 258.9 MPa, 371.9 MPa and 7.33%
for the yield strength, tensile strength and elongation to failure,
respectively, when the Y addition was 0.9 wt.%. Both the grain
refinement and the pinning effect on dislocation slides of fine
broken Al2Y precipitates contributed to the excellent mechani-
cal properties. However, when the Y content was up to 1.4
wt.%, the coarsened brittle Al2Y phase was observed, which
resulted in the decrease of tensile strength.

2.2. Modified AM series

Mg-Al-Mn based alloys like AM50, AM60 exhibit suitable
Fig. 9. Mechanism map of AZ31 extruded at different temperatures and Sr
levels [32]. combination of ambient temperature strength, ductility and
high corrosion resistance, which are widely used for applica-
tions major concerned about the ductility and toughness, such
elevated temperature mechanical properties [37,38]. The as steering wheels and instrument panels. However, the appli-
addition of Sn could also reduce the stacking fault energies of cation temperature of AM series alloys is limited to 120 °C due
Mg-Al based alloys, and therefore increase the ductility of the to the poor elevated temperature mechanical properties caused
alloys [39]. Based on a first principle approach, Wang et al [40] by the precipitation and coarsening of Mg17Al12 phase in the
developed a cast-rolled Mg-3Al-3Sn alloy with excellent interdendritic eutectic region [53]. In this case, the modification
strength and ductility of 274 MPa and 25% respectively. Jiang of AM series alloys by adding several alloying elements were
et al [41] from Chongqing University investigated the ageing investigated to further improve their mechanical properties at
behavior of AZ80 alloy with 0~4 wt.% Sn addition, and found high temperatures for expanding the application of Mg alloy.
that the prior precipitated Mg2Sn phases suppressed the forma- Adding rare earth elements is an efficient way to improve the
tion of discontinuous β-Mg17Al12 precipitates but hardly influ- mechanical properties of AM series alloys. He et al [54] inves-
enced the structure of continuous precipitates. Furthermore, the tigated the influence of La/Ce ratio on microstructure and
addition of Sn obviously enhanced the age hardening response mechanical properties of AM50-1RE alloys with constant
of AZ80. The UTS, YS and EL (elongation) of as-extruded content of RE addition (1.2wt%). Fig. 10 shows the tensile
AZ80 containing 1~2 wt.% Sn were improved to 420 MPa, properties of AM50-1RE alloys with different La/Ce ratios at
290 MPa and 5%, respectively. Wu et al [42] found that Sn room temperature. It was found that the single addition of La or
could significantly accelerate the grain refinement of AZ91 due Ce can enhance the YTS and UTS of AM50 effectively without
to the hindering effect of small Mg2Sn precipitates on grain the sacrifice of elongation, and the strengthening effect of La is
boundaries migration during high-ratio hot extrusion, and the better than that of Ce due to the finer grain size of AM50-1La
UTS and EL of as-extruded AZ91 were developed to 380 MPa alloy, however, adding La and Ce together results in the
and 8%, respectively, by adding 3 wt.% Sn. She et al [43] decrease of Mg17Al12 phase and the formation of coarse
further systematically investigated the microstructures and skeleton-like phase, and therefore deteriorates the mechanical
mechanical properties of Mg-xAl-ySn-0.3Mn (x = 1,3,6 and properties of AM50 alloy.
y = 1,3) hot-extruded at 523 K and 623 K. A bimodal micro- Wang et al [55] investigated the effect of Ce addition on the
structure was observed in alloys with low Al content or at low microstructure and tensile properties of as-cast and hot-rolled
extrusion temperature which led to the improvement of yield AM50 alloy. As shown in Table 3, the best tensile properties
strength. Contrarily, the strength of alloys with high Al content were obtained in the AM50-1.5Ce alloy due to the refinement of
increased with the increasing extrusion temperature due to the Mg17Al12 particles and the formation of Al11Ce3 precipitates
strengthened basal texture. distributed along grain boundaries, the UTS, YS and elongation
The addition of rare earth elements (RE) to Mg-Al alloys of which were 203 MPa, 88 MPa and 20%, respectively. Further
were commonly used to accelerate the formation of thermally addition of Ce results in a decrease of tensile properties due to
stable (Mg,Al)xREy phases to improve the high temperature the formation of coarse Al11Ce3 clusters, which was detrimental
mechanical properties of wrought Mg alloys [44–46]. Investi- to the mechanical properties. After hot rolling, the acicular
gations on the precipitations, microstructures, grain morpholo- Al11Ce3 phase were broken into small sections and the grain
gies and mechanical properties of Mg-Al-RE alloys have been size of AM50-1.5Ce alloy were significantly refined to 15 µm,
done in the last few years [47–50]. Pan et al [51] investigated thus the UTS and YS were enhanced to 318 MPa and 225 MPa,
the effect of Y on the microstructure and mechanical properties respectively.
246 S. You et al. / Journal of Magnesium and Alloys 5 (2017) 239–253

Fig. 10. Effect of La/Ce ratio on the tensile properties of the alloys at ambient temperature [54].

Similar results were reported in an investigation on the Mg-3.6Al-0.4Mn-3.3Ca (wt.%) alloy with TYS of 410 MPa, an
microstructure and mechanical properties of as-cast and hot- UTS of 420 MPa, a compressive yield strength (CYS) of
rolled Mg-3Al-0.5Mn-0.5Zn-1MM (AM30-0.5Zn-1MM) alloy 350 MPa and an elongation to failure of 5.6%. These excellent
[56]. It was found that, after hot-rolling, the grain size of as-cast mechanical properties were attributed to several reasons, first is
alloy was greatly refined from 240 µm to 7 µm and the coarse the grain boundary strengthening effect provided by the
Al11RE3 phase and Al10Ce2Mn7 phase were broken into small bimodal grain structure consisting of fine recrystallized grains
sections. The grain boundary strengthening effect, the enhanced of 1 µm and un-recrystallized area with relatively low basal slip
pinning effect of second phases on dislocation slip and the Schmid factor, second is the suppression of basal slip due to the
increased dislocation density result in the significantly low average basal slip Schmid factor and strong basal texture
improved mechanical properties after hot rolling process, where during tensile and compressive tests along extrusion direction,
the UTS and YS were improved from 193 MPa and 46 MPa to and finally is the precipitation strengthening effect of the
300 MPa and 230 MPa, respectively. In addition, Wang et al nanoscale precipitates formed during hot extrusion. The further
[57] improved the UTS and YS of hot-rolled AM50 alloy to investigation on the ambient and elevated temperature mechani-
340 MPa and 240 MPa, respectively, through adding 2 wt.% of cal properties of as-extruded Mg-Al-Mn-Ca system alloy was
Nd. It was also found that no obvious grain-coarsening was conducted by Homma et al [59]. It was found that the extruded
observed after annealing at 250 °C, which indicates that the Mg-4Al-0.3Mn-3Ca alloy also exhibited a bimodal grain struc-
hot-rolled AM50-2Nd alloy exhibits a good thermal stability. ture which possessed a strong basal texture, and the formation
However, due to the high cost and natural resource scarcity of tensile twinning in the unrecrystallized areas was observed
of rare earth elements, other alloying elements like Ca, Sn and after compressive test which resulted in the yield anisotropy at
so on were considered, as Ca addition has a significant effect on ambient temperature, however, the value of the yield anisotropy
grain refinement and improving the ignition proof property, and is higher than that of AZ31 alloy. Additionally, the elevated
Sn addition can enhance the creep resistance of magnesium temperature mechanical properties were still high and the yield
alloys. Xu et al [58] developed a high-strength extruded anisotropy was modified when the test temperature increased to
150 °C, which was attributed to the formation of thermal stable
fine Al2Ca and Al-Mn phases and the activation of non-basal
Table 3 slip. The mechanical properties of Mg-4Al-0.3Mn-3Ca alloy
Tensile properties of as-cast AM50-xCe alloys at room temperature [55].
compared with AZ31 and A4032 aluminum alloy which is often
Alloys UTS (MPa) YTS (MPa) ε (%) used as a high temperature resistant Al alloy (Table 4). As Li
AM50 158 64 8 addition can significantly improve the formability of Mg alloys,
AM50-0.5Ce 173 71 9 Kim et al [60]. investigated the effect of Li on the microstruc-
AM50-1.0Ce 184 82 15
tures and mechanical properties of as-extruded AM30-1Sn-xLi
AM50-1.5Ce 203 88 20
AM50-2.0Ce 177 75 13 alloys. It was found that with the increasing addition of Li from
AM50-3.0Ce 165 68 6 5 wt.% to 11 wt.%, the ultimate tensile strength decreased a

Table 4
Room temperature mechanical properties of AM40-3Ca, AZ31 and A4032 [59].
Alloy Ultimate strength, MPa Yield strength, MPa Elongation to failure
Tension Compression Tension Compression Tension Compression
AM30-3Ca 349 472 331 285 8.2 9.5
AZ31 267 409 178 120 20.8 16.8
A4032-T6 380 – 315 – 9 –
 S. You et al. / Journal of Magnesium and Alloys 5 (2017) 239–253 247

little but the elongation was enhanced remarkably from 16% to mechanical properties of Mg-Zn-Zr alloys and indicated that
35% due to the crystal structure transformation from HCP to the ductility was improved remarkably. The effect of Sc addi-
BCC and the weakened basal texture. tion on the microstructure and mechanical properties of ZK60
alloy was reported by Pan et al [75]. It was found that a minor
Sc addition to ZK60 alloy had an obvious effect on the micro-
3. Mg-Zn system
structure refinement and led to the improvement of tensile
Mg-Zn based alloy is regarded as one of the strongest strength to 350 MPa and yield strength to 280 MPa by 0.6 wt.%
wrought Mg alloys, such as Mg-Zn-Zr (ZK) system, of which addition of Sc. The Mg-Zn system with trace RE addition is
ZK60 alloy was reported to possess a good combined property being considered as one of the most promising system for
of strength and elongation at room temperature [61]. However, developing new wrought magnesium alloys with good
Mg-Zn based alloys have a relatively low age-hardening mechanical performance and acceptable cost.
response due to the distribution of coarse MgZn2 precipitates The ternary phases found in Mg-Zn-RE system have also
along [0001] direction [62], and also, the poor elevated tem- attracted great attentions, including Mg3Zn3RE2 (W-phase,
perature mechanical properties limit their applications. In the cubic structure), Mg3Zn6RE (I-phase, quasi periodically
last few decades, several investigations on promoting the ordered icosahedra quasicrystal structure), and Mg12ZnRE
ageing response of Mg-Zn alloys have been done, for example, long-period stacking order (LPSO) phase (6H, 10H, 14H, 18R,
the addition of Cu was found to increase the solution heat 24R structures), due to their various structures and significant
treatment temperature which led to a higher content of Zn strengthening effects [65,76–82]. I-phase has an obvious effect
dissolved in Mg matrix, thus to increase the amount of precipi- on improving the ambient and elevated temperature mechanical
tation during ageing [63]. The researches from Chongqing Uni- properties and suppressing grain coarsening of these wrought
versity and Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht etc. mainly focused Mg alloys, due to its high thermal stability and high hardness
on developing new type wrought Mg-Zn alloys using the addi- [83]. Singh et al [65] obtained a high strength (over 350 MPa)
tion of alloying elements including RE (rare earth), Ca, Sn and in a hot extruded Mg-6 at.%Zn-1 at.%Y alloy followed by
Mn. Their additions had been studied to optimize both the room ageing treatment. The high tensile yield strength was attributed
temperature and elevated temperature properties of Mg-Zn to the nano-size I-phase formed along grain boundaries and
alloys. inside the matrix. Similarly, the significant strengthening effect
of nano-scale quasi crystalline I-phase particles was achieved in
an as-extruded Mg-9Zn-1.5Er alloy by Wang et al., of which the
3.1. Mg-Zn-RE series
yield strength, ultimate strength and elongation were 192 MPa,
Recently, Mg-Zn-RE alloys were widely investigated 319 MPa and 22.3%, respectively. It was also reported that
because they have a high strength at both the room and elevated small I-phase particles activated the DRX through PSN, which
temperatures [7,64–66]. Pan’s research group in Chongqing resulted in the weakened texture and grain refinement [84].
University did a large amount of investigations on Mg-Zn-RE W-phase with face-centered cubic structure was brittle and
series [67–69], and the substitution of manganese for zirconium weak-bonded with Mg matrix which was deleterious to the
and reasonable addition of Er in this type of alloys is very mechanical properties of Mg alloy [85]. However, in some
innovative and valuable. For example, by reasonable addition of works, the W-phase can be broken into small particles
Er, they developed an as-rolled Mg-1.5Zn-0.1Zr-0.4Er alloy and distributed homogeneously inside the Mg matrix by
with a high yield-tensile ratio of 0.95 and good mechanical thermomechanical working process, which can significantly
properties, of which the UTS, YTS and elongation were improve the mechanical properties of as-cast Mg-Zn-RE alloy.
285 MPa, 270 MPa and 16%, respectively [67]. By the substi- For example, Yang et al [66] developed a high strength
tution of manganese for zirconium, a hot-extruded Mg-8.4Gd- as-extruded Mg-6Zn-4Y alloy containing uniform-distributed
5.3Y-1.65Zn-0.59Mn alloy was developed [68], which achieved W-phase particles, of which the yield strength, ultimate strength
high UTS and TYS of 500 MPa and 322 MPa with a good and elongation were 350 MPa, 371 MPa and 7%, respectively.
ductility (elongation of 10%). Liu et al [69] reported the effect Moreover, Wang et al [86] investigated the microstructure and
of trace Y and Ce additions on the microstructure and mechani- mechanical properties of as-extruded Mg-xZn-xEr (x = 2, 4, 6).
cal properties of extruded Mg-Zn-Zr alloys, which indicated It was also found that the coarse W-phase was destroyed into
that the alloy with 0.28 wt.% Y and 0.52 wt.% Ce exhibited small particles via hot extrusion. The PSN was activated
optimal mechanical properties (TYS of 313 MPa, UTS of through the increasing content of broken W-phase particles,
356 MPa and elongation of 12.1%). which contributed to the weakened texture, thus a good strength
Commercial Mg-Zn alloy system modified by trace RE addi- and elongation were obtained in the Mg-6Zn-6Er alloy extruded
tion has been widely investigated which indicated that the micro at 673 K (UTS, YS and elongation were 328 MPa, 283 MPa and
alloying RE element can significantly weaken the texture and 19.7%, respectively).
enhance the strength and ductility of wrought Mg-Zn alloys Among these ternary phases in Mg-Zn-RE system, the long
with a low cost [70–72]. Zhou et al [73] reported the tensile period stacking ordered (LPSO) phase is the most attractive
properties of ZK60 alloy increased with addition of Nd and Y structure which has an obvious effect on improving the
by grain refinement during dynamic recrystallization. Zhang mechanical properties and corrosion resistance of Mg alloys
et al [74] investigated the effect of Er addition on the [87–90]. A hot-extruded Mg97Zn1Y2 alloy containing dispersed
248 S. You et al. / Journal of Magnesium and Alloys 5 (2017) 239–253

Table 5 accelerated the DRX through PSN mechanism, but also

Volume fraction of LPSO phases and Vickers hardness of the three Mg-Zn-Y enhanced the room temperature mechanical properties of
alloys [92].
Mg-Zn-Y alloys (Table 5). However, when the test temperature
Alloy %LPSO HV was above 523 K, the strength was not significantly affected by
MgY3Zn1.5 35 84.7 ± 0.6 the volume fraction of LPSO phase. The Mg98.5Y1Zn0.5 alloy
MgY2Zn1 21 82.5 ± 0.7
with lowest content of LPSO phase showed a higher elevated
MgY1Zn0.5 9 65.4 ± 1.1
temperature strength (Fig. 11), which may be attributed to the
change of deformation mechanism at high temperatures. The
effect of LPSO phase on the creep behavior of Mg-Zn-Y alloy
nano-scale LPSO phases was firstly reported to have an excel- was further studied by Oñorbe et al [93]. The results indicated
lent mechanical properties of which the tensile strength and that a high stress exponent and high activation energy were
elongation reached to 610 MPa and 5%, respectively [7]. After showed in LPSO containing alloy at low temperatures and high
that, the effect of this newly discovered structure on the strain rates. Also, the creep resistance of extruded Mg-Zn-Y
mechanical behavior of Mg alloys was deeply investigated alloys increased with the increasing volume fraction of LPSO
during the last decade. Hagihara et al [91] investigated the phase, which could be related to the load transfer from Mg
strengthening effect of LPSO phase by comparing the mechani- matrix to the LPSO phase behaving as a magnesium matrix
cal properties of the as-extruded Mg97Zn1Y2 alloy with a composite. The different creep mechanisms at ranges of strain
volume fraction of 24% LPSO phase and the as-extruded rates and temperatures were listed in Table 6.
single-phase Mg99.2Zn0.2Y0.6 alloy. The thermally stable LPSO
phase not only significantly accelerated the grain refinement of
3.2. Mg-Zn-Ca series
Mg-Zn-Y alloy during hot extrusion, but also suppressed the
gain growth during the following annealing treatment. As a As mentioned above, Mg-Zn-RE alloys prepared by
result, the alloy containing LPSO phase has a higher yield thermomechanical processing exhibit high strength and moder-
strength than that of LPSO-free alloy under all annealing con- ate elongation. However, Mg-alloys containing high content of
ditions. In addition to the grain size effect, the strength of RE are really expensive due to the presence of rare earth metals.
Mg/LPSO two-phase alloy extremely depended on its strong Recently, Mg-Zn-Ca alloy system attracted great attention due
basal fiber texture and the reinforcement effect of the LPSO to their excellent mechanical properties and low cost [94–96].
phases aligning parallel to the direction of extrusion. Further- Zhang et al [97] reported a hot-extruded Mg-1Zn-0.5Ca alloy
more, Oñorbe et al [92] investigated the influence of the volume exhibiting superior mechanical properties with elongation of
fraction of LPSO phase on the microstructure and mechanical 44%, YTS of 105 MPa and UTS of 205 MPa at room tempera-
properties of three as-extruded Mg-Zn-Y alloys. It was found ture, which attributed to the grain refinement and weakened
that the increasing volume fraction of LPSO phase not only basal texture. It was also found that the strength of the alloy

Fig. 11. Changes in (a) YTS and (b) UTS of three extruded Mg-Zn-Y alloys at different test temperatures [92].

Table 6
Different creep mechanisms of Mg-Zn-Y alloys at ranges of strain rates and temperatures [93].
High Strain Rates n > 10 473 K to 523 K Load transfer mechanism
(έ > 10-4 s-1) n~5 573 K to 623 K Non-basal dislocation slip
n=3 623K GBS*
Intermediate Strain Rates n ~ 2 to 3 573 K to 673 K GBS
(10-4 s-1 > έ > 10-6 s-1)
Low Strain Rates n>5 573 K to 673 K GBS
(έ < 10-6 s-1)
* GBS: Grain boundary sliding.
 S. You et al. / Journal of Magnesium and Alloys 5 (2017) 239–253 249

Table 7
Mechanical properties of Mg-Zn alloys [104] and Mg-Mn alloy [105].
Sample UTS / MPa TYS / MPa CYS / MPa Elongation / % σcys / σTYS Ref.
Mg-2Zn-0.3Sr 258 185 126 17.5 0.68 [104]
Mg-2Zn-0.3Sr-1Mn 298 257 196 21.1 0.76 [104]
Mg-2Zn-0.3Sr-2Mn 333 312 240 17 0.77 [104]
ZK60 354 255 167 14 0.65 [104]
Pure Mg 198.8 97.8 60.2 15.7 0.62 [105]
Mg-1Mn 234.1 204.3 157.8 38.8 0.77 [105]

decreased but ductility increased with increasing extrusion tem- improved [105], the elongation increased from 15.7% to 38.8%
perature. The highest UTS of 300 MPa was obtained by extru- when the yield strength increased from 97.8 MPa to 204.3 MPa
sion at 583 K due to the partly recrystallized microstructure and (Table 7).
formation of sharp basal textures. In addition, Tong et al [98]
investigated the influence of deformation rate on the micro- 4. Mg-RE system
structure and mechanical properties of indirect-extruded
Mg-5.3Zn-0.6Ca alloy. It was found that the higher deformation Mg wrought alloys containing various RE elements attracted
rate resulted in grain coarsening and an obvious basal texture great interests, mainly for the improvement of strength and
weakening effect which could attribute to the change of crystal formability of wrought magnesium alloys [106,107]. A large
structure (c/a) of Mg matrix by micro-alloying Ca. The weak- amount of research has found that RE additions can signifi-
ened texture and coarse grains resulted in the lower YTS but cantly weaken the texture and improve the deformability of Mg
higher work hardening rate, which improved the ductility by alloys [81,108,109]. REs can also strengthen Mg alloys effec-
delaying the plastic instability. Furthermore, an extruded tively by solid solution strengthening and precipitation harden-
Mg-Ca-Zn-Zr alloy with lower content of Ca (1 wt.%) and Zn ing mechanisms for their high solubility in Mg [110]. Recently,
(1 wt.%) but higher strength of 306 MPa combined with a wrought Mg alloys containing RE elements, such as Gd, Y, Nd,
moderate elongation of 11% was reported by Geng et al [99]. It Dy, Ho, Er, Ce, La and Yb, have been developed. The binary
was found that the refined microstructure attributed to the com- and ternary Mg-RE alloys have good strength at both ambient
bination of dynamic recrystallization and the Zener pinning and elevated temperatures [111–114].
effect induced by the fine precipitates.
4.1. Binary systems
3.3. Mg-Zn-Mn series
Zhou et al [115] investigated mechanical properties and
Mg-Zn-Mn based alloys have gained increasing attentions deformation behavior of as-extruded Mg-3Y at room tempera-
because of their high corrosion resistance, ductility and ture and reported a high elongation to failure of ~33%. It was
strength [100,101]. An extruded Mg-5.99Zn-1.76Ca-0.35Mn found that the excellent ductility of Mg-3Y attributed to the
alloy with superior mechanical properties was reported by Xu dominant deformation modes of basal slip and extension twin-
et al [102], of which the YTS and elongation to failure are ning as well as the activation of non-basal slip, contraction
289 MPa and 16% respectively. In addition to the high strength twinning and twin-slip interaction. Wu et al [116] compared the
and moderate elongation, the alloy extruded at 350 oC also mechanical properties of pure magnesium and two binary
exhibited a high compression/tension yield ratio close to 1 Mg-Y alloys after extruded and annealed. It was found that the
along the ED, which attributed to its high DRX ratio, fine grain elongation increased with the increment of Y content, but the
size, high number density of Mg6Zn3Ca2 precipitates and weak strength decreased. This was explained by the weakened
texture. Tong et al [103] investigate the effect of Mn addition on texture in Mg-Y alloys. Stanford et al [117] investigated the
microstructure and mechanical properties of Mg-Zn-Ca alloy recrystallization-texture-mechanical properties relationship of
and found that the TYS of as-extruded alloy significantly Mg-Gd binary alloys with Gd concentrations between 0.22 and
increased by 50 MPa with 0.3 wt.% Mn. Furthermore, Pan et al 4.65 wt.%. It was reported that the recrystallization texture was
[104] from Chongqing University developed a low-cost significantly weakened by the addition of small amounts of Gd,
wrought Mg-2 wt.%Zn alloy with high Mn content up to 2 up to 1wt.%, but it remained unchanged with further addition of
wt.%. It was reported that the high Mn content significantly Gd. The authors mentioned that the alloy with the highest Gd
increased the UTS, YTS and CYS of the as-extruded alloy with concentration exhibited a yield point which attributed to the
improved ductility, which attributed to both the refined recrys- solid solution strengthening of Gd, however, it did not affect the
tallized grains by the large amount of fine Mn precipitates and ductility. Wu et al [118] investigated the mechanical properties
the increase of slip resistance of base plane during hot defor- of extruded binary Mg-Er alloys with concentration of 2 wt.%,
mation. The mechanical properties were summarized in 4 wt.% and 6 wt.% Er. They reported that, under both tensile
Table 7. Simultaneously improved strength and ductility by and compressive loading, the alloy with higher Er exhibited
addition of Mn was found to be more remarkable in pure mag- lower flow stresses but higher ductility, which could be
nesium, and the UTS, YTS and elongation are all apparently explained by the RE-texture development and the reduction of
250 S. You et al. / Journal of Magnesium and Alloys 5 (2017) 239–253

Table 8
Mechanical properties of wrought Mg-RE binary alloys.
Alloy (wt.%) Tensile Yield Ultimate Tensile Elongation to Processing route
Strength (MPa) Strength (MPa) failure (%)
Mg-1Y 25 75 10 As-cast [119]
Mg-1Y 148 200 9.3 Hot rolled at 400 °C [119]
Mg-3Y 120 200 33 Extruded at 350 °C [115]
Mg-2Y 92 189 21 Heat treated at 480 °C for 12 h – Extruded at 420 °C [116]
Mg-4Y 87 177 30 Heat treated at 480 °C for 12 h – Extruded at 420 °C [116]
Mg-0.22Gd 120 190 6 Hot rolled at 400 °C – Annealed for 1 h at 380 °C [117]
Mg-0.75Gd 145 210 12 Hot rolled at 400 °C – Annealed for 1 h at 380 °C [117]
Mg-2.75Gd 160 205 21 Hot rolled at 400 °C – Annealed for 1 h at 380 °C [117]
Mg-4.65Gd 165 210 26 Hot rolled at 400 °C – Annealed for 1 h at 380 °C [117]
Mg-2Er 83 251 19.6 Homogenized at 520 °C for 48 h – Extruded at 400 °C – Annealed at 400 °C/60 min [118]
Mg-4Er 80 184 28.4 Homogenized at 520 °C for 48 h – Extruded at 440 °C – Annealed at 400 °C/20 min [118]
Mg-6Er 72 195 29.4 Homogenized at 520 °C for 48 h – Extruded at 440 °C – Annealed at 400 °C/30 min [118]

c/a ratio with Er addition. The mechanical properties of binary typical example is one commercial alloy WE43. Due to the high
Mg-RE alloys available in literature are shown in Table 8. price of REs, especially those heavy REs such as Gd et al, the
Hantzsche et al. investigated the microstructure and texture development of these alloys with high content of REs was
evolution in the binary Mg-RE alloys with the additions of REs mostly performed in China. Zhang et al [120] reported the
with different solubility in Mg [109]. These REs included Ce, mechanical properties of Mg-10Y-2.5Sm alloy. Its high tensile
Nd with a low solubility in Mg and Y with a high solubility in strength was attributed to the solid solution strengthening of Sm
Mg. Their investigations confirm that binary Mg-RE sheets and precipitation strengthening by Mg24Y5. As to the Mg-RE
with weak textures are achievable by using alloying elements alloys with more RE elements, Reference [2] reported the
such as Nd, Ce and Y. The amount of the RE addition required microstructure and mechanical properties of Mg-4Y-3.2RE
for sufficient texture weakening is connected with the solid alloy. It was found that the ageing heat treatment improved the
solubility of the respective element. Such weak textures strength of the alloy significantly with the precipitation of β′ or
promise improved sheet formability. The weakening of the β″ phase. Xu et al [121] investigated the effects of Nd on the
texture is connected with the appearance of deformation bands microstructure and mechanical properties of as-extruded Mg-Y-
containing twins and the restriction of grain growth. Fig. 12 Zr-Nd alloy. They reported that more Mg24Y5 and Mg14Nd2Y
shows the maximum texture intensity as a function of RE con- particles were dispersed in the matrix with Nd content increas-
tents for their investigated binary Mg-RE alloys. It is interesting ing, which resulted in the promoted nucleation of dynamic
to notice that when the contents of REs reach to a critical value, recrystallization and refined grain size. The tensile strength of
the texture intensity reduces sharply. This result is quite helpful extruded alloys increased with increasing Nd content but the
for guiding the alloy design for developing new wrought mag- elongation decreased. All the mechanical properties of Mg-RE
nesium alloys. alloys under different processing conditions at room tempera-
ture are summarized in Table 9.
4.2. Alloy systems containing various RE elements
5. Summary and concluding remarks
The Mg-REs systems multi-alloying with various REs have
a high strength and satisfied ductility at room temperature A great development in the field of wrought Mg alloys with
achieved by thermomechanical processing. In these systems, excellent mechanical properties in the past decade was
besides magnesium all the other alloying elements are REs. The achieved. The wrought magnesium alloys can achieve a TYS of

Fig. 12. Maximum (0 0 0 2)-pole figure intensity as a function of RE content (a) as-rolled condition and (b) after annealing (accuracy of the texture measurements
is ±0.2.) [109].
 S. You et al. / Journal of Magnesium and Alloys 5 (2017) 239–253 251

Table 9
Mechanical properties of wrought Mg alloy containing various RE elements.
Alloy (wt.%) Tensile Yield Ultimate Tensile Elongation to Processing Condition
Strength (MPa) Strength (MPa) failure (%)
Mg-4Y-3RE 165 250 2.0 T6 [122]
Mg-4Y-3RE 263 ± 7 311 ± 11 23 ± 3 Forged [123]
Mg-4Y-3RE 318 ± 9 368 ± 10 17 ± 1 Forged – Aged at 210 °C/32h [123]
Mg-4Y-3RE 344 ± 11 388 ± 12 23 ± 1 Forged – Aged at 180 °C/60 h [123]
Mg-4Y-3RE 286 ± 10 341 ± 4 28 ± 1 Forged – Aged at 150 °C/104 h [123]
Mg-5Y-0.5Zr 231 ± 5 153 ± 2 29.1 ± 0.5 Homogenized at 500 °C for 10 h – Extruded at 400 °C [121]
Mg-5Y-0.5Zr-0.5Nd 256 ± 4 185 ± 3 27.4 ± 0.6 Homogenized at 500 °C for 10 h – Extruded at 400 °C [121]
Mg-5Y-0.5Zr-1Nd 273 ± 5 216 ± 4 24.2 ± 1.4 Homogenized at 500 °C for 10 h – Extruded at 400 °C [121]
Mg-5Y-0.5Zr-2.6Nd 285 ± 3 233 ± 2 4.7 ± 1.1 Homogenized at 500 °C for 10 h – Extruded at 400 °C [121]
Mg-4Y-3RE-0.4Zr - 235 17 Cast + Annealed at 525 °C/5 h [83] [121]
Mg-4Y-3RE-0.4Zr - 300 6 Cast + Annealed at 525 °C/5h + Aged at 200 °C [121]
Mg-4Y-3RE-0.4Zr - 325 20 Cast + Annealed at 525 °C/5 h + Extruded at 100:1 at 400 °C [121]
Mg-4Y-3RE-0.4Zr - 330 20 Cast + Annealed at 525 °C/5 h + Extruded at 100:1 at 400 °C + Aged at
200 °C [121]
Mg-4Y-3RE-0.4Zr - 350 13 Cast + Annealed at 525 °C/5 h + Extruded at 2.8:1 at 400 °C [121]
Mg-4Y-3RE-0.4Zr - 370 5 Cast + Annealed at 525 °C/5 h + Extruded at 2.8:1 at 400 °C + Aged at
200 °C [121]
Mg-6Gd-2Nd-0.5Zr 118 220 17 Cast + Solution Treated at 500 °C + Quenched [124]
Mg-6Gd-2Nd-0.5Zr 175 345 7.5 Cast + Solution Treated at 500 °C + Quenched + peak-aged (200 °C for
24 h) [124]
Mg-6Gd-2Nd-0.5Zr 245 340 7 Cast + Solution Treated at 500 °C + Quenched + deformed (5%) and
peak-aged at 200 °C for 12 h [124]
Mg-6Gd-2Nd-0.5Zr 270 350 4 Cast + Solution Treated at 500 °C + Quenched + deformed (10%) and
peak-aged at 200 °C for 8 h [124]
Mg-6Gd-2Nd-0.5Zr 200 275 21 as-extruded at 450 °C [124]
Mg-6Gd-2Nd-0.5Zr 250 350 8 as-extruded at 350 °C [124]
Mg-6Gd-2Nd-0.5Zr 245 290 29 extruded at 450 °C and peak-aged at 200 °C for 24 h [124]
Mg-6Gd-2Nd-0.5Zr 275 375 17.5 extruded at 350 °C and peak-aged 200 °C for 24 h [124]
Mg-12Gd-3Y-0.4Zr 187.3 282.5 6.3 Cast + Extruded at 400 °C [125]
Mg-12Gd-3Y-0.4Zr 309.6 381.8 4.4 Cast + Extruded at 400 °C and Hot rolled at 200 °C [125]
Mg-12Gd-3Y-0.4Zr 162.0 285.4 10.9 Cast + Extruded at 400 °C and Hot rolled at 200 °C + Annealed at 450 °C
for 2 h [125]
Mg-12Gd-3Y-0.4Zr 141.8 252.8 8.1 Cast + Extruded at 400 °C and Hot rolled at 200 °C + Annealed at 500 °C
for 2 h [125]
Mg-12Gd-3Y-0.4Zr 342.8 457.6 3.8 Cast + Extruded at 400 °C and Hot rolled at 200 °C + aged at 225 °C for
17 h (T5) [125]
Mg–8Gd–5Y–2Zn–0.6Mn 322 500 10,0 Extruded at 400 °C + aged at 200 °C [68]
Mg–6Gd–0.6Zr 145 206 43.4 Extruded at 450 °C + aged at 200 °C [126]

300 MPa and some of them can reach even a higher strength of existing high-strength Mg alloys contain a large amount of
up to 500 MPa by the alloying design and subsequent process- rare-earth elements which are expensive. In addition, compared
ing. Besides the alloying, the developments in the last decade with high strength wrought aluminum alloys, the mechanical
mainly focused on: 1) refining grain size down to an ultra-fine properties of wrought Mg alloys is not quite competitive, which
level or even nano level to obtain a high strength combined with means that a new strengthening strategy in Mg alloys still need
superior ductility according to the grain refinement strengthen- to be developed. In conclusion, microstructural control such as
ing effect, 2) obtaining a high density of fine precipitates texture and grain morphology, precipitates and solute segrega-
via pre-aging before manufacturing or heat treatment after tion (especially their interaction with defects such as twins and
thermos-mechanical processing to retard grain coarsening, dislocations), should be further investigated to improve the
promote the formation of nanostructures or hinder the disloca- mechanical properties of wrought Mg alloys. To achieve that,
tion sliding due to the precipitation strengthening effect, 3) more advanced innovative thermomechanical processes need to
inducing harmful texture via thermo-mechanical processing to be developed and explored with economical route.
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