Thermodynamic assessment of the Mg-Mn-Gd system for the Mg alloy development

Abstract

Mg alloys are extensively used as light structural materials in modern industry. Mn and RE (rare-earth) metals are effectively employed as alloying elements to enhance the mechanical properties of Mg alloys. Therefore, accurate thermodynamic database of those alloys is important in the Mg alloy design and processing. In the present study, the thermodynamic assessment of the Mg-Mn-Gd system was performed to obtain reliable thermodynamic functions to reproduce all available and reliable experimental data in the sub-binaries and ternary systems. The Gibbs energies of solid solutions were described using the Compound Energy Formalism (CEF) [1] with consideration of their crystal structures, and the Gibbs energy of liquid phase was modeled using the Modified Quasi-chemical Model (MQM) [2]. Copyright © 2013 MS&T'13®.