Success in Creation of a Quasicrystalline Particle-Dispersed Magnesium Alloy with a Rare Earth-Free Composition Design

A team led by Dr. Hidetoshi Somekawa, a Senior Researcher of the Structural Metals Center (Managing Director: Kaneaki Tsuzaki) at the National Institute for Materials Science (President: Teruo Kishi), succeeded in creating a test material in which quasicrystalline particles or crystalline particles approximating the quasicrystalline type are dispersed in magnesium by selecting the common elements aluminum and zinc as elements to be added to magnesium, and adjusting the composition and applying appropriate heat treatment. The developed alloy shows strength and ductility values equal or superior to those of the conventional quasicrystalline particle-dispersed magnesium alloys, while also eliminating the yield anisotropy which is a weak point of wrought magnesium alloys, thereby demonstrating that isotropic deformation is possible. Because material costs can be reduced, this alloy is considered to have the potential for development to a variety of structural applications, beginning with members for use in transportation machinery. These research results will be presented at the Spring Meeting of the Japan Institute of Metals, which will be held March 28-30 at Tokyo Institute of Technology.