Influence of W-phase on mechanical properties and damping capacity of Mg–Zn–Y–Nd–Zr alloys

This work mainly investigated the influence of W-phase on the mechanical properties and damping capacities of as-cast Mg–Zn–Y–Nd–Zr alloys with Zn/RE (rare element) ratio about 1.0. Obtained results indicate that the alloys with Zn and RE addition are composed of α-Mg matrix and W-phase. With the contents of Zn and RE increasing, the diffraction peaks of W-phase are gradually intensified and the morphology of W-phase transforms from fine-network microstructure to coarse-network microstructure. The tensile strength and fracture mechanism are strongly dependent on the quality of W-phase and the alloy with W-phase content of 8.0% has the highest strength as a result of strong atomic bonding between the W-phase and the Mg matrix. The damping capacities of Mg–Zn–Y–Nd–Zr alloys decrease gradually with the increasing amount of W-phase and then maintain at high level at high strain amplitude. The decline of damping capacity can be explained by the forming of W-phase, which makes more phases and interfaces form in the alloys. And the mobile dislocation densities in the alloys increase as residual stress at the interface of W-phase/Mg matrix and long dislocations generate in the α-Mg matrix. Therefore, the damping of alloy with high W-phase content improves accordingly with the increasing amount of moving dislocations.