Improving mechanical properties of laminate heterogeneous GW103K/AZ31 alloys

The laminate heterogeneous GW103K (Mg-10Gd-3Y)/AZ31 (Mg-3Al-1Zn) alloys were obtained by diffusion bonding and hot rolling. The influence of the interfacial layer numbers on mechanical properties and microstructure evolution of laminate heterogeneous GW103K/AZ31 alloys were systematically studied. The 9-layer laminates exhibited an excellent combination of yield strength (210 MPa), ultimate tensile strength (269 MPa), and elongation (13.2%), which are much superior to the individual component materials. In addition, the 9-layer laminates also exhibited maximum extra strength and ductility that is higher than what is predicted by the rule of mixture. The strengthening and ductilization mechanisms of laminate heterogeneous GW103K/AZ31 alloys are discussed, which promotes the development of internal stress and can be correlated to the Bauschinger effect as measured by cyclic loading-unloading-reloading experiments. Detailed transmission electron microscopy observation was applied to characterize the interface structure of the laminate samples.