Annealing Behavior of a Mg-Y-Zn-Al Alloy Processed by Rapidly Solidified Ribbon Consolidation

Mg-Y-Zn-Al alloys processed by the rapidly solidified ribbon consolidation (RSRC) technique are candidate materials for structural applications due to their improved mechanical performance. Their outstanding mechanical strength is attributed to solute-enriched stacking faults (SESFs), which can form cluster-arranged layers (CALs) and cluster-arranged nanoplates (CANaPs) or complete the long-period stacking ordered (LPSO) phase. The thermal stability of these solute arrangements strongly influences mechanical performance at elevated temperatures. In this study, an RSRC-processed Mg—0.9%, Zn—2.05%, Y—0.15% Al (at%) alloy was heated at a rate of 0.666 K/s up to 833 K, a temperature very close to melting point. During annealing, in situ X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements were performed using synchrotron radiation in order to monitor changes in the structure. These in situ XRD experiments were completed with ex situ electron microscopy investigations before and after annealing. At 753 K and above, the ratio of the matrix lattice constants, c/a, decreased considerably, which was restored during cooling. This decrease in c/a could be attributed to partial melting in the volumes with high solute contents, causing a change in the chemical composition of the remaining solid material. In addition, the XRD intensity of the secondary phase increased at the beginning of cooling and then remained unchanged, which was attributed to a long-range ordering of the solute-enriched phase. Both the matrix grains and the solute-enriched particles were coarsened during the heat treatment, as revealed by electron microscopy.