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ZrCl4 was added into Mg-0.3Al model alloy in order to reduce the Al content in the castings below 0.005 mass%. Amount of ZrCl4 was determined by thermodynamic calculation. Various Al-Zr intermetallic compounds were formed in the melt at 1013 K. Large intermetallic compounds would be floated to melt surface by Ar bubbling and then removed by skimming before pouring. Smaller ones remained after Ar bubbling and isothermal holding would be partially removed by filter inserted into a mold during pouring. The Al content in the castings was higher than that predicted by thermodynamic calculation due to incomplete removal of Al-Zr intermetallic compounds from the melt. [doi:10.2320/matertrans.MRP2008246]

The effect of Ca addition on the corrosion resistance of AZ31 magnesium alloys was evaluated by observation of microstructure and measurement of corrosion potential and average corrosion rate. The main mechanism of corrosion of AZ31+xCa (x ¼ 0� 5 mass%) alloys was galvanic-corrosion between � -Mg and second phase. But the propagation behavior of corrosion was different with Ca content. In the alloy containing below 0.7 mass%Ca, a micro-galvanic cell formed between matrix � -Mg and second phase formed semi-continuously at grain boundaries and the corrosion progressed in transgranular mode. The propagation of corrosion was retarded when the corrosion front met the second phase acted as corrosion barrier. But in the alloys containing above 1 mass%Ca, a micro-galvanic cell formed between eutectic � -Mg and discontinuous second phase in the eutectic region and the corrosion rapidly progressed along eutectic � -Mg formed continuously at grain boundaries because the discontinuous second phase could not prohibit the propagation of corrosion effectively.

Recently application of magnesium alloys is expanded rapidly over the whole industry, especially in automotive and electronic industries. Most of magnesium alloy parts are produced by casting process and the quality control of castings is very important to reliability and durability of parts. Various properties of magnesium alloy castings are deteriorated by defects such as non-metallic inclusion and pore. 1–5) Especially control of non-metallic inclusion remained in magnesium alloy castings is very important because the possibility of entrance of non-metallic inclusion into melt is very high due to high reactivity of magnesium alloy melt with gas species above melt surface. There are various methods for removal of inclusions in melt including addition of flux, gas bubbling and filtration. 6–8) Formerly a method of addition of flux was mainly applied to remove inclusions from magnesium alloy melt. 9–11) But part of flux was entered into melt during pouring when flux could not be entirely removed as dross and/or sludge before pouring and the flux remained in casting degraded the quality of castings as harmful defect. So a method of bubbling of inert gas into melt has been paid attention as new method for removal of inclusions from melt, especially during steelmaking. 12–15) But studies on removal of inclusions from magnesium alloy melt by gas bubbling have not been carried out actively. In this study the effect of Ar gas bubbling on the removal of inclusions from AZ91D magnesium alloy melt is evaluated indirectly by measurement of tensile elongation of gravity mold castings of AZ91D magnesium alloy and analyzed qualitatively.

In this study, the effects of Ca content and processing variables on the external surfaces and tensile properties of hot-rolled AZ31-xCa sheets were evaluated systematically. The number and length of side crack were decreased with increasing preheating temperature and decreasing reduction ratio per pass and Ca content. The UTS and YS were not strongly dependent on the Ca content but the elongation decrease with increasing Ca content. The amount of decrease in elongation due to increase in Ca content was least when the sheets were fabricated under preheating temperature of 400 � C and reduction ratio per pass of 15%. The sheets had the sound external features with little side cracks by homogenization of gravity cast AZ31-xCa alloys before hot rolling. In the cases of AZ31-xCa alloys containing under 1 mass% Ca, the annealed sheets after homogenization and hot rolling had the similar tensile properties to those of AZ31 sheet.

Semi-solid processing is an emerging technology for near net-shape production of engineering components. Although there has been significant progress in semi-solid processing of Al alloys, very limited information is available on semi-solid processing of Mg alloys, except for the thixomolding process. In semi-solid casting process, it is necessary to properly control the flow and solidification behavior of semi-solid slurries for high quality products. There are a number of parameters that affect the flow and solidification behavior of semi-solid slurries such as viscosity, casting pressure, shapes of gate and mold cavity, gate velocity, mold temperature, etc. In the present study, the effects of various thermo-mechanical treatments were investigated on the change in viscosity of the semi-solid AZ91D magnesium alloys by using a concentric cylinder type viscometer. The effects of gate velocity and thickness on mold filling behavior of the semi-solid AZ91D alloys were also investigated by using a high-speed camera and the results were compared with those obtained from computer simulations. From these results and microstructure examination, a processing map for high pressure die casting of the semi-solid AZ91D alloy was constructed in order to produce sound castings.