A high-performance Mg-10Gd-4Dy-1.5Ag-1Zn-0.5Zr (wt.%, EQ142X) alloy was designed by multi-element composite addition in this work, obtaining a high yield strength (~396 MPa) and ultimate tensile strength (~451 MPa) after hot extrusion and ageing. The high strength is mainly related to fine grains and nano-precipitates, especially the latter. β' and γ″ nano-precipitation with high fractions are the main strengthening phases, leading to a strengthening increment of ~277 MPa. Moreover, the multi-element alloying in this study promotes the basal-prismatic network strengthening structure, composed of β' nano-precipitation with (1-210) habit planes, γ″ nano-precipitation with (0001) habit planes, basal plane stacking faults and 14H-long period stacking ordered phase. In addition, the dislocations and fine grains introduced by the hot-extrusion process not only accelerate the precipitation rate of nanostructure and thus improve the ageing hardening efficiency, but also facilitate the formation of more uniform and finer nano-precipitation. Thus, it is proposed that introducing nano-precipitates network into fine-grained structure is an effective strategy for developing high-strength Mg alloys.
Keywords: ageing; magnesium alloys; mechanical properties; nano-precipitation.