Determination brittle temperature range of MSR-B magnesium alloy

Abstract

Magnesium alloys are a part of a group of lightweight and ultra-lightweight alloys, which are important in practical use in constructions. Due to the development of these alloys, they are currently used in many fields of science and their maximum working temperature is about 250°C. Nowadays, magnesium alloys are used for casting into sand moulds of huge dimensional castings, high-pressure castings and precise casings. In castings of magnesium alloys defects or inconsistencies (such as casting misruns, porosities and cracks) often appear, particularly in huge dimensional castings. Such defects are repaired with the use of padding and welding. The welding techniques can be applied by using weld material consisting of magnesium alloy, as well as for regeneration of alloys after excessive wear. Nevertheless, the number of the repaired castings, which were permitted for use, is not satisfactory to obtain a profitable production. The main reasons for wear are the cracks appearing during welding in brittleness high-temperature range. This work in combination with industrial tests of casting and welding shows that the causes of high-temperature brittleness are partial tears of the structure and solidification cracks of both castings and welded and padded joints. Such phenomena should be treated as irreversible failures caused by the process of crystallisation that occurs in the area of co-existence of the solid and liquid structural constituent. This paper contains research covering: determinating liquidus and solidus temperatures, determining nil-strength temperature (NST), nil-ductility temperature (NDT) and ductility recovery temperature (DRT). The obtained results enabled to define brittle temperature range of the MSR-B magnesium alloy. The brittleness is caused mainly by metallurgical factors, i.e., precipitation of inter-metal phases from the solid solution. Microstructure of fractures was observed using a Hitachi S-3400N scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Analyses of chemical composition were performed using an energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDS), Noran System Six of Thermo Fisher Scientific and phase analysis was performed by X-ray diffraction (XRD). Essential differences of fracture morphology type in brittle temperature range were observed and described.