Structure and Fracture Characteristics of Magnesium - Aluminium Alloys under Elevated Temperatures

Magnesium alloys are primarily used in aeronautical and automobile industry in wide variety of structural characteristics because of their favourable combination of tensile strength (160 to 365 MPa), elastic modulus (45 GPa), and low density (1 740 kg/m), which is two-thirds that of aluminium). Magnesium alloys have high strength-to-weight ratio (tensile strength/density), comparable to those of other structural metals. Knowledge of elastic-plastic properties at elevated temperatures is often important for complex evaluation of magnesium-aluminium alloys. Objective of the work was focused on determination of changes of elastic-plastic properties of magnesium-aluminium alloys, including investigation of fracture characteristics with use of light microscopy and SEM.