Effects of Cooling Rate and Solute Content on the Grain Refinement of Mg-Gd-Y Alloys by Aluminum

The effect of Al additions on grain refinement of Mg-Gd-Y alloys with different solute contents at different cooling rates has been investigated. For all alloys, significant grain refinement was due to the formation of Al₂(Gd _x Y_1−x ) nucleant particles. The number density and size distribution of Al₂(Gd _x Y_1−x ) were affected by both solute content and the cooling rate. Grain sizes (d _gs) of Mg-Gd-Y base alloys and of Mg-Gd-Y-Al alloys were related to solute content (defined by the growth restriction factor, Q), cooling rate (\( \dot{T} \)), and area number density (ρ _ns) and size (d _p) of nucleant particles that can be activated. It is found that grain sizes of Mg-Gd-Y base alloys follow the relationship \( d_{\text{gs}} = a + \frac{b}{{Q\sqrt {\dot{T}} }} \), while grain sizes of Al-refined samples follow the relationship \( d_{\text{gs}} = \frac{a'}{{\sqrt {\rho {}_{\text{ns}}} }} + \frac{b'}{{\sqrt {\dot{T}} Qd_{\text{p}} }} \), where a, b, a′, and b′ were constants. In addition, the grain refinement effect of Al additions was more susceptible to solute content and the cooling rate than that of Zr which is regarded as the most efficient grain refiner for Mg alloys.