Journal of Materials Research and Technology 35 (2025) 5097–5106

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Journal of Materials Research and Technology

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Microstructures and mechanical properties of cast Al–Mg–Si alloy with

combined addition of Sc and Zr
Xu Yuan a,1 , Jie Zhou a,1 , Xianfeng Li b,**, Gang Li b,d , Qian Wang c , Yaqi Deng b ,
Zhiping Wang a,b,* , Gang Sha a , Haowei Wang b
a
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Herbert Gleiter Institute of Nanoscience, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, 210094, China
b
State Key Laboratory of Metal Matrix Composites, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China
c
Shanghai Institute of Satellite Engineering, No. 3666 Yuanjiang Road, Shanghai, 201109, China
d
Shanghai Electric SHMP Casting & Forging Co., Ltd., Shanghai, 200240, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Handling editor: P Rios In present work, an Al–Mg–Si-Sc-Zr alloy with high Mg/Si ratio and the combined addition of Sc, Zr elements was
designed to fabricate the cast Al alloys with uniform microstructure. The effect of heat treatment on the
Keywords: microstructure evolution and mechanical properties of designed Al–Mg–Si-Sc-Zr alloy was investigated. The
Aluminum alloy scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy were used to analyze the second phase
Al–Mg–Si
evolution. The result suggests that the aging temperature mainly affects the size, phase type and number density
Precipitate
of matrix precipitates. It confirms that both the strength and ductility are controlled by precipitates, which are
Aging treatment
Al3(Sc strongly dependent on aging temperature. With proper heat treatment, the ductility of materials is notably
Zr) enhanced from 2.6% to 13.3% by high number density of nano-sized precipitates (β’’ phase) and plate-like GPII
Ductility zones with {111}Al habit plane. The formation of plate-like GPII zones should be attributed to the high Mg
content of Al–Mg–Si alloys and named as GPII-Mg zones. The β’’ precipitates and GPII zone may precipitate at the
Al/Al3(Sc,Zr) interface to form the interface precipitate. High Mg/Si ratio and combined addition of Sc, Zr may
provide new insights on alloy design strategy for high performance cast Al–Mg–Si alloys.

1. Introduction frequently and the precipitation sequence is covered to be complex,

which should be determined by the chemical composition of the alloy
Al–Mg–Si alloys are widely used as structural materials in trans­ and the aging temperature [6,13–17]. The precipitate sequence during
portation industry owing to the high strength-to-weight ratio, good aging treatment can be considered to be: super-saturated solid solution
formability and excellent corrosion resistance [1–4]. As one of heat (SSSS) → atomic clusters → GP zones → β’’→ β′, U1, U2, B’ → β, Si
treatable Al alloy, the performance of Al–Mg–Si alloy strongly depends [18–23]. Generally, β” is the primary strengthening phase in the
on heat treatment, including homogenization/solution treatment and peak-aged Al–Mg–Si alloys, which corresponds to coherent, rod-shaped
aging treatment [3,5–8]. Compared with deformable Al–Mg–Si alloys precipitates parallel to the longitudinal direction of <001>Al [21,22,
with strong texture, the cast Al–Mg–Si alloys behave excellent micro­ 24]. For crystal structure, β” phase is a base-centered monoclinic crystal
structural stability, isotropy of mechanical properties and short pro­ structure with a space group C2/m, while the lattice parameters are a =
cessing flow with low cost for industry [3,7]. As for cast Al–Mg–Si alloys, 1.516, b = 0.405, and c = 0.674 nm, with the angle between a and c axes
the alloys will be processed as ingot casting, homogenization treatment being 105.3◦ [25–32]. The composition of β” precipitate is less clear, one
and aging treatment [7,9]. During homogenization treatment, the pri­ measured the composition as Al2Mg5Si4, the other regarded the
mary phase should be dissolved into matrix to achieve rapid aging composition as Mg5Si6 [7,20,26,31–35].
response and peak hardness/strength during aging treatment [9–12]. The performance of Al–Mg–Si alloys can be further improved by
The aging phenomena of Al–Mg–Si alloy has been investigated adjusting Mg/Si ratio (0.5–2 in commercial alloys) or enhancing

* Corresponding author. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Herbert Gleiter Institute of Nanoscience, Nanjing University of Science and Technology,
Nanjing, 210094, [email protected]
** Corresponding [email protected]
1
Xu Yuan and Jie Zhou equally contributed to this work and served as co-first authors.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmrt.2025.02.190
Received 2 January 2025; Received in revised form 19 February 2025; Accepted 20 February 2025
Available online 20 February 2025
2238-7854/© 2025 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-
nc-nd/4.0/).
X. Yuan et al. Journal of Materials Research and Technology 35 (2025) 5097–5106

addition of other micro-alloying elements (such as Cu, Ag, Sc, Zr, Ti) into Al-2%Sc, Al–10%Zr and Al–20%Si were used in present work. In order to
the alloy matrix to shape the precipitate sequence, alter the precipitate fabricated the designed Al–Mg–Si-Sc-Zr alloy, pure Al and three master
type or form dispersed L12 Al3M (Al3Sc, Al3Ti, Al3Zr) precipitates [4,10, alloys were gradually melted in the furnace at 760 ◦ C for 30 min and
13–15,17,18,36–40]. Interestingly, these strategies not only enhance the then cooled to approximately 650 ◦ C. Afterwards, the pure Mg was
strength-ductility combination of the Al–Mg–Si alloys, but also notably added into the melt under the protection of covering agent and then the
affect the precipitation kinetics of the Al–Mg–Si alloys [4,37,39–41]. For melt was gradually heated to 740 ◦ C and poured into graphite mold to
instance, the Si-rich alloys contain a very fine precipitate (GP zones and fabricate a cylindrical ingot with dimensions of Φ 80 mm × 110 mm.
β” precipitates) microstructure producing high hardness despite a low The actual chemical composition of ingot was measured by inductively
volume fraction of precipitates, while the Mg-rich alloys contain a couple plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy as Al-5.91Mg-0.99Si-
coarse microstructure (β” and β’ precipitates) and overage faster than 0.33Sc-0.13Zr (wt.%). The samples were homogenized at 500–580 ◦ C
the Si-rich alloys in Cu-free Al–Mg–Si alloys [17]. Ding et al. [13] re­ for several hours and subsequently water quenched (as-homogenized
ported that alloys with low Cu and low Mg/Si ratio (0.55) exhibited state). The as-homogenized samples were immediately aged at 120 ◦ C
higher precipitation hardening than alloys with high Mg/Si ratio (2) and 175 ◦ C.
during artificial aging, while the precipitation kinetics of the high Cu
alloys were less dependent on the Mg/Si ratio. Dorin et al. [18] sug­ 2.2. Microstructure characterization and tests
gested that the nucleation of Al3Sc dispersoids could be assisted by Si to
form fine Al3Sc dispersoids in the cast Al–Mg–Si-Sc-Zr alloys containing Microstructures were examined by scanning electron microscopy
Mg and Si (Mg/Si ratio = 1.67), while the Mg atoms may segregate at the (SEM, TESCAN MIRA3) equipped with energy dispersive spectroscopy
Al/Al3Sc interface. In addition, the Mg–Si precipitates can nucleate on (SEM-EDS, BRUKER QUANTAX EDS XFlash®) and transmission electron
the dispersoids in the inter-dendritic regions [18]. To obtain a high microscopy (TEM). For the SEM-EDS characterization, the accelerating
Mg/Si ratio, increasing Mg content could enhance the strength but voltage is 15 kV, the SEM-EDS data was analyzed by BRUKER ESPRIT
decrease the ductility of alloys while reducing Si content (<1 wt%) may software and the chemical compositions of phase particles were quan­
adversely affect the casting performance of alloys [39]. When the Mg tified by an interactive P/B-ZAF method packaged in BRUKER ESPRIT
content exceeds 8 wt% in Al–Mg alloys, the Al–Mg solid-solution tends software. TEM observation was carried out using FEI Talos F200X at
to decompose by the spinodal decomposition [40,41]. Therefore, a 200 kV. The TEM is equipped with scanning TEM mode, consisting of a
proper Mg/Si ratio should be selected to enhance the strength-ductility high angle annular dark field detector, a bright field (BF) detector, a
combination of Al–Mg–Si alloy. dark field detector and Bruker’s super EDS system (TEM-EDS). For the
The interface structure especially the interfacial dislocation and co­ TEM-EDS characterization, the voltage is 200 kV and the TEM-EDS data
herency of interface, and interface precipitation have been studied in Al was analyzed by Thermo Scientific Velox software. High resolution TEM
alloys by experimental characterization with the first-principles density (HRTEM) technology was employed to characterize the nano-sized
functional theory calculations [16,20,38,42–44]. It reveals that the precipitates and HRTEM micrographs were analyzed by Gatan Micro­
interface between metastable precipitate or reinforcement and matrix scopy Suite (GMS-3) software, including fast Fourier transform (FFT)
could provide the nucleation site for the nano-sized precipitates [45,46]. diffractogram and inverse FFT (iFFT) image. The samples for SEM
In detail, the Zn atoms may dissolve into L12 Al3(Sc, Zr) precipitate and observation were prepared by mechanical-polishing. The samples for
the L12 Al3(Sc, Zr) precipitate can act as the heterogeneous nucleation TEM observation were prepared by a twin-jet electro-polishing system at
site for plate-like GPII zone and η′ phase in Al–Zn–Mg alloys [47,48]. The 20 V using a (30% HNO3+70% CH3OH) solution cooled to − 10 ◦ C. The
formation of plate-like GPII zone requires the participation of Zn atoms tensile test was carried out on a Zwick/Roell machine at a strain rate of
as the formation of η′ phase requires the participation of Zn and Mg 5 × 10− 4 s− 1 at room temperature. The gage section of tensile specimens
atoms. Interestingly, the habit plane of spherical L12 Al3(Sc, Zr) pre­ with dog-bone shape was 15 × 3 × 2 mm3. Vickers hardness was
cipitate is {001}Al along the direction of <001>Al while the habit plane measured with a load of 5 kg (HV5) applied for 15s on an ATM CARAT
of plate-like GPII zone and η′ phase is {111}Al [49–52]. In Al–Mg–Si 930 machine, and average hardness was calculated from at least 7
alloys, the rod-shape β” is parallel to the longitudinal direction of indentations.
<001>Al [3,20,32,34]. As for spherical L12 Al3(Sc, Zr) precipitate
reinforced Al–Mg–Si alloys, the interaction between spherical L12 3. Results and discussions
Al3(Sc, Zr) precipitate and β” precipitate may occur. In addition, the
strong binding between Sc and Si atoms assists the formation of disor­ 3.1. Microstructure of as-cast alloy
dered β’’ precipitates consisting of Sc-free β’’ sub-units and
Sc-containing disordered regions, rather than the well-ordered β’’ [53]. Fig. 1 exhibits the SEM micrographs and SEM-EDS maps of as-cast
With further aging treatment, these disordered β’’ precipitates will Al–Mg–Si-Sc-Zr alloy. The as-cast alloy shows three different regions:
evolve to β’’/β’/B’/U2 composite precipitates to enhance the thermal (1) matrix with grey color, which should be the α-Al with Mg solute
stability of Al–Mg–Si alloys [53]. Therefore, the interaction between the atoms; (2) secondary phase with white color, which should be the pri­
(Sc, Zr) and the nano-sized precipitates remains to be revealed. mary Al3(Sc,Zr) phase at grain interior [18,37]; (3) secondary phase
In the present study, an Al–Mg–Si-Sc-Zr alloy with high Mg/Si ratio with black color, which should be primary Mg2Si phase at grain
(>5) is designed and investigated by microstructure characterization boundary [18]. The chemical composition of second phase was
and tensile test when encountered homogenization treatment and aging measured by SEM-EDS as listed in Table 1. As shown in the SEM
treatments. The effects of homogenization treatment and aging treat­ micrograph at higher magnitude, the primary Mg2Si phase particles
ment on secondary phase, precipitation behavior, hardness, strength show network-like shape. In addition, the average grain size of as-cast
and ductility were discussed. Finally, the strength-ductility and its alloy is ~36 ± 6 μm, which is distinguished from the dendrite struc­
relationship with precipitation characteristics were interpreted by the ture of as-cast Al–Mg–Si alloys with large average grain size (~82 μm)
interaction mechanism between precipitates and dislocations. [8].

2. Experimental details 3.2. Microstructure evolution during homogenization treatment

2.1. Materials The homogenization treatment was used to remove the segregation
and increase solution degree to enhance the performance of material in
The raw materials consist of pure Al, pure Mg, and master alloys of Al alloys [12]. As for cast Al alloy, the component will be made directly

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Fig. 1. Microstructure characterization of as-cast Al–Mg–Si-Sc-Zr alloy. (a) SEM micrograph, (b) SEM-EDS maps; (c) SEM micrograph at higher magnitude; (d) SEM-
EDS maps.

rapid aging hardening at the early period of ageing (0–6 h); (II) steady
Table 1
aging hardening (>6 h). With ageing goes on, the hardness of the alloy
Chemical composition (at.%) of phase particles in as-cast alloy measured by
aged at 120 ◦ C continues to increase until 24 h, arriving at 75.7 ± 1.2
SEM-EDS.
HV, while the alloy aged at 175 ◦ C increases between (0–6 h) to 78.0 ±
Position Al Mg Si Sc Zr Mg/Si Closest phase 1.3 HV. This indicates the time to achieve peak-aged state for as-
1# 76.9 16.5 6.5 0.1 – 2.5 Mg2Si homogenized Al–Mg–Si-Sc-Zr alloy is dependent with aging tempera­
2# 82.6 1.1 – 12.5 3.9 ​ Al3(Sc, Zr) ture, as 120 ◦ C@24h, 175 ◦ C@6h. In addition, the hardness of Al–Mg–Si-
3# 80.3 0.3 14.3 5.1 Al3(Sc, Zr)
– ​
Sc-Zr alloy aged at 175 ◦ C for 48 h is slightly higher than that of sample
aged at 175 ◦ C@6h.
from billets after heat treatment without hot working/deformation. The
microstructure evolution during homogenization treatment was shown 3.4. Microstructure characterization of peak-aged alloys
in Fig. 2. In order to keep the as-homogenized microstructure, the
specimens were quenched into water within 5 s to limit the influence of In order to reveal the nano-sized structure in 120 ◦ C@24h sample,
cooling process. With the increasing of homogenization treatment the TEM observation was carried out to characterize the tomography,
temperature, the primary Al3(Sc,Zr) phase behaves great stability, while size and crystal structure of precipitates (Fig. 5). The large spherical
the network-like Mg2Si phase particles dissolve into matrix gradually particles were identified as Al3(Sc,Zr) phase by TEM-EDS (Sc and Zr)
and transform into spherical particle. No network-like Mg2Si phase maps with the diameter of 30~45 nm and denoted by yellow arrows
particles were observed as the specimen was heated at 575 ◦ C for 2 h [37,47,54,55]. The small particles were characterized by HRTEM tech­
(Fig. 2h). nology and identified as β’’ phase by FFT diffractogram (A2 in Fig. 5d)
The element distribution and the chemical composition of remained and marked by red circles [20,21,32,34]. In addition, A few atomic
phase particle were detected by SEM-EDS in Fig. 3 and Table 2. When layers of a GPII zone on the {111}Al plane and the corresponding FFT
the homogenization temperature rises up to 580 ◦ C, the pores are diffractogram (A1 in Fig. 5d) shows sharply continuous streaking along
observed and the fraction of remained Mg2Si phase is further reduced the [111] Al direction. This plate-like GPII zone generally forms on the
compared to sample treated by 575 ◦ C@2h (Figs. 2h and 3). This in­ {111}Al habit plane, which is rarely reported in Al–Mg–Si alloy. In Al
dicates that over-burning is occurred in the sample after treated by alloys, a Zn-rich GPII zone was frequently reported in Al–Zn–Mg alloys
580 ◦ C@1h. The remained phase particles contain Mg and Si element [47,48,56]. The formation mechanism of Zn-rich GPII zone is less clear.
and the Mg/Si ratio of particles is between 0.46 and 0.86 (7#~9#), One suggests that the GPII zone evolves directly from the GPI zone.
suggesting the remained phase particle should be the transition state However, this possibility has been challenged due to their incompatible
between Mg2Si and pure Si particle. habit planes, the {100}Al→{111}Al habit planes from GPI zones to GPII
zones [57,58]. An alternative proposal assumes that after numerous GPI
3.3. Hardness evolution during ageing treatment zones on {100}Al planes dissolve, different Mg-depleted regions on
{111}Al planes gradually turn into Zn-rich GPII zones [51].
Samples were homogenized treated at 575 ◦ C for 2h, artificial aged at In present work, no Zn element was added as alloying element to
120 ◦ C and 175 ◦ C respectively. The hardness evolution of aged form Zn-rich GPII zone. Therefore, this plate-like GPII zone should be
Al–Mg–Si-Sc-Zr alloy was shown in Fig. 4. According to the hardness consist of Mg or Si atoms, but the structure is significantly different the
evolution curves for samples aged at 120 ◦ C and 175 ◦ C, the aging conventional precipitates, including β’’/U1/U2/β phase [16,21,53]. In
response for Al–Mg–Si-Sc-Zr alloy could be divided into two stages: (I) addition, the high Mg content could significantly decrease the stacking

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Fig. 2. SEM micrographs of as-homogenized Al–Mg–Si-Sc-Zr alloy. (a) 500◦ [email protected], (b) 500◦ [email protected]; (c) 540◦ [email protected]; (d) 540 ◦ C@1h; (e) 540 ◦ C@2h; (f) 575
◦
[email protected]; (g) 575 ◦ C@1h; (h) 575 ◦ C@2h.

Fig. 3. SEM micrograph and corresponding SEM-EDS maps of as-homogenized Al–Mg–Si-Sc-Zr alloy (580 ◦ C@1h). (a, c) SEM micrographs and (b, d) corresponding
SEM-EDS maps.

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Table 2 present Al–Mg–Si alloy, these plate-like GPII zones should be assisted by
Chemical composition (at.%) of phase particles in as-homogenized alloys the high Mg concentration of matrix, thereby they are not observed in
measured by SEM-EDS (580 ◦ C@1h). commercial Al–Mg–Si alloys. Therefore, we name this GPII zone as
Position Al Mg Si Sc Zr Mg/Si Closest phase GPII-Mg zone to reveal the effect of high Mg content, representing the
4# 9.4 1.8 77.7 – – 0.02 Si
difference between this GPII zone and classical Zn-rich GPII zone.
5# 78.4 0.9 – 14.8 6.0 – Al3(Sc, Zr) The number density of this GPII-Mg zones (Fig. 5b) is notably higher
6# 13.6 25.5 49.8 – – 0.51 Mg2Si/Si than that of β’’ phase during TEM observation. However, the size of this
7# 27.6 22.7 46.9 – – 0.46 Mg2Si/Si GPII zones is significantly smaller than that of β’’ phase, causing that this
8# 5.7 39.2 53.3 0.74 Mg2Si/Si
– –
GPII-Mg zones are not observed in Fig. 5a. Besides, some nano-sized
9# 8.6 37.4 43.6 – – 0.86 Mg2Si/Si
precipitates (~50 nm in length and ~8 nm in width) also formed on
{111}Al plane which are marked by blue arrows (Fig. 5f). The FFT
diffractogram suggests that the streaks along <111> Al directions are no
longer continuous, but have maxima at 1/3<111> Al in the diffraction
pattern, reflecting the Al planes being spaced three {111}Al planes apart
(A4 in Fig. 5d). These nano-size precipitates are highly similar with the
GPII-Mg zones with the same habit plane.
The microstructures of 175 ◦ C@48h sample were also characterized
by TEM micrograph. The number density of nano-sized precipitates in
175 ◦ C@48h sample is significantly smaller than that in 120 ◦ C@24h
sample (Fig. 6a), but Al3(Sc,Zr) particles, β’’ precipitates and GPII-Mg
zones are also observed. The large spherical particles were Al3(Sc,Zr)
phase, which were identified by TEM-EDS maps. Similarly, the HRTEM
micrographs and FFT diffractograms confirm that the β’’ phase and GPII-
Mg zones show the same crystalline orientation relationship with matrix
as the results in 120 ◦ C@24h sample. Fig. 6e and f show the iFFT images
of the stepped Al/GPII-Mg zone interface (inserted box in Fig. 6c), where
the distinct lattice distortion appears around the steps. In addition, some
interfacial dislocations exist at the Al/GPII-Mg interface.
Interestingly, the β’’ phase may precipitate at the Al/Al3(Sc,Zr)
interface (Fig. 7d) to form the interface precipitate. In previous work, it
is covered that the dispersed Al3(Er,Zr) particles can act as the prefer­
Fig. 4. Hardness evolution during aging treatment.
ential heterogeneous nucleation sites for Mg2Si phases and θ-Al2Cu
phases [9,60]. Thus, the interface structure between β’’ phase and
fault energy (SFE) of the Al alloys (~120 mJ m− 2 for Al-0.5 Mg alloy and Al3(Sc,Zr) is analyzed in Fig. 7. The existence of interfacial dislocations
~40 mJ m− 2 for Al–4Mg alloy, respectively) [59]. As the close packed at β’’/Al3(Sc,Zr) interface (blue “T”), indicates that β’’ precipitate is
plane for Al alloy is {111} and the high Mg content decreases the SFE of semi-coherent with Al3(Sc,Zr) phase (Fig. 7d). In addition, no interfacial

Fig. 5. BF-STEM micrograph, TEM-EDS maps and HRTEM micrographs of peak-aged alloys (120 ◦ C@24h). (a) BF-STEM micrograph; (b) TEM-EDS maps; (c) HRTEM
micrograph; (d) FFT diffractograms; (e–f) HRTEM micrograph of Al3(Sc,Zr) particles and nano-sized precipitates.

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Fig. 6. BF-STEM micrograph, TEM-EDS maps and HRTEM micrographs of peak-aged alloys (175 ◦ C@48h). (a) BF-STEM; (b) TEM-EDS; (c–d) HRTEM micrograph
and corresponding FFT diffractograms; (e–f) iFFT images at Al/GPII-Mg interface.

dislocation is observed at Al/Al3(Sc,Zr) interface in inserted box critical condition of plastic instability is satisfied and the strain hard­
(Fig. 7b), indicating that the Al3(Sc,Zr) is fully-coherent with matrix at ening behavior during plastic deformation is governed by dislocation
the box region. This indicates that the β’’ phase can heterogeneously activities [61–63]. However, if two curves do not meet each other,
nucleate at Al3(Sc,Zr)/Al interface. indicating that the dominant mechanism for controlling the ductility is
less related to dislocation behavior, which is mainly controlled by cracks
3.5. Mechanical properties and fracture analysis generation and expansion. If two curves meet with each other, the
improved strength-ductility combination should be rooted in the strain
Fig. 8 shows the yield strength (YS), ultimate tensile strength (UTS), hardening ability of the alloys [61,64].
elongation of as-cast and peak-aged alloys. The typical engineering In Fig. 8c, the gap between strain hardening rate and true strain of
stress-strain curves, true stress-strain curves and variation between cast alloy (Gap I) is notably reduced by heat treatment. Since two curves
strain hardening rate and true stress with true strain, variation between do not meet each other in cast alloy, indicating that the dominant
strain hardening rate and plastic stress of peak-aged alloys are shown in mechanism for ductility should be related to the defect-induced insta­
Fig. 8b–d. Notably, the heat treatment significantly enhances the elon­ bility. According to Fig. 1, these primary phase particles may promote
gation of Al–Mg–Si-Sc-Zr alloys from 2.6% to 9.5–13.3%. After heat the formation of stress concentration during deformation, leading to the
treatment, 120 ◦ C@24h sample behaves higher YS (198 MPa), highest worst ductility of cast alloy. Compared with cast sample, the peak-aged
UTS (288 MPa), and highest elongation (13.3%), while the 175 ◦ C@48h sample will suffer homogenization treatment and aging treatment,
sample has lower YS (153 MPa). In addition, the peak-aged Al–Mg–Si- resulting in the dissolution of the primary phase during homogenization
Sc-Zr alloy behaves good strength-elongation combination compared treatment, the precipitation and solution decomposition of solution
with other cast Al–Mg–Si alloys (Fig. 8e). Interestingly, the elongation is during aging treatment. The dissolution of primary phase should sup­
decreased with the increasing of aging temperature. The engineering press the primary phase-induced stress concentration and loss of
stress-strain curves suggest that the aging treatment can effectively ductility. In addition, the dissolution of the primary phase will reduce
improve the strength-ductility combination of alloys. the initial strain hardening rate to decrease the dislocation storage
The fracture surface consists of a large number of dispersed dimples, ability and increase the dislocation dynamic recovery rate [74]. The
both Mg2Si phase and primary Al3(Sc,Zr) phase in Fig. 9. The chemical precipitation and solution decomposition will increase the initial strain
compositions of 1# and 2# were measured by SEM-EDS as 48.2 at.% Al, hardening rate and reduce the dislocation dynamic recovery rate. Thus,
32.0 at.% Mg, 19.8 at.% Si and 57.2 at.% Al, 2.8 at.% Mg, 28.7 at.% Sc the decreased initial strain hardening rate should be caused by the
and 11.3 at.% Zr, respectively. According to SEM-EDS element maps, the dissolution of primary phase and the decreased dislocation dynamic
Mg2Si phase was marked by blue arrows while the Al3(Sc,Zr) phase was recovery rate should be caused by the precipitation and decomposition
marked by orange arrows. The fracture surface indicates that the Mg2Si of solution. According to Considère’s criterion, the low initial strain
phase may be broken into fragments during tensile test as the Al3(Sc,Zr) hardening rate should decrease the ductility and the low dislocation
phase exhibits excellent stability and locates at the bottom of dimples. dynamic recovery rate should increase the ductility [64,65,75]. Analysis
from strain hardening behavior (Fig. 8d), the peak-aged sample exhibits
the low initial strain hardening rate and dislocation dynamic recovery
3.6. Enhancement of ductility by heat treatment rate simultaneously, revealing that the ductility of peak-aged sample
should be notably higher than cast sample even without defect-induced
According to Considère’s criterion, if two curves of strain hardening instability.
rate and true strain versus strain meet each other, meaning that the

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Fig. 7. HRTEM micrographs of peak-aged alloys and corresponding FFT diffractograms (175 ◦ C@48h). (a) HRTEM micrograph; (b) FFT diffractogram at Al matrix;
(c) FFT diffractogram at Al3(Sc,Zr) phase and iFFT images of Al/Al3(Sc,Zr) particle; (d) FFT diffractogram and iFFT images at nano-sized β’’ precipitate/Al3(Sc,
Zr) particle.

In peak-aged samples, the strain hardening rate curves show 4. Conclusions

different trades at deformation stage V. Different from the rapid
decrease of strain hardening rate in the as-cast alloy after yielding, the The Al–Mg–Si-Sc-Zr alloys with high Mg/Si ratio was designed and
strain hardening rate of the 120 ◦ C@24h and 175 ◦ C@48h samples fabricated and the microstructure evolution during heat treatment was
decrease slowly across a rather wide true strain range from 6 to 12%. investigated. The main conclusions are summarized as: (1) The high Mg/
The strain hardening rate remains sufficiently high to ward off the Si ratio and the addition of Sc, Zr element refine the as-cast micro­
plastic instability to delay necking, leading to a notably small Gap II and structure. In as-cast alloy, three different phases were observed as: α-Al
Gap III by aging treatment (Fig. 8c). As such, the 120 ◦ C@24h sample with Mg solute atoms, primary Al3(Sc,Zr) phase at grain interior and
achieves a remarkable strength–ductility synergy, compared with the primary Mg2Si phase at grain boundary with network-like, which lays a
cast sample and 175 ◦ C@48h sample. In variation between strain foundation for subsequent performance optimization. (2) The optimized
hardening rate and plastic stress curves, the slope is regarded as the homogenization treatment for designed Al–Mg–Si-Sc-Zr alloy was
function of dislocation dynamic recovery rate (k2) and the ductility of 575 ◦ C for 2h, which promotes the network-like Mg2Si phase particles
material is mainly controlled by the dislocation dynamic recovery rate dissolve into matrix gradually and transform into spherical particle. It
[65,66]. In Fig. 8d, the slope of curves follows: cast improves the distribution morphology of the second phase and reduces
sample>175 ◦ C@48h sample>120 ◦ C@24h sample. Therefore, the the adverse effect of segregation on the performance. (3) The samples
ductility should follow the sequence as: cast sample< 175 ◦ C@48h aged at 120 ◦ C for 24h consist of plate-like GPII-Mg zones, nano-sized β’’
sample<120 ◦ C@24h sample. precipitates and dispersed Al3(Sc,Zr) particle, while the Al3(Sc,Zr) par­
ticle is not affected by the aging treatment. When the aging temperature

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X. Yuan et al. Journal of Materials Research and Technology 35 (2025) 5097–5106

Fig. 8. Mechanical properties of as-cast alloy and peak-aged alloys. (a) Tensile properties; (b) typical engineering strain-engineering stress curves; (c) the variation
between strain hardening rate/true strain and true strain; (d) the variation between strain hardening rate and plastic stress; (e) the UTS versus elongation to failure
map of as-cast and peak-aged alloys in comparison with other high strength Al–Mg–Si alloys in the literature [9,23,67–73]. The LPBFed alloy represents the alloy
fabricated by laser powder bed fusion.

increases to 175 ◦ C, the number density of nano-sized precipitates (β’’) is CRediT authorship contribution statement
notably decreased. The nano-sized β’’ precipitates may coarse with the
increasing of aging temperature and can heterogeneous nucleate at Xu Yuan: Investigation, Writing – original draft. Jie Zhou: Meth­
Al3(Sc,Zr)/Al interface with the help of interfacial dislocations. This odology, Investigation, Writing – original draft. Xianfeng Li: Supervi­
designed alloy behaves the highest strength and elongation after 120 ◦ C sion, Resources, Methodology, Validation, Writing – review & editing.
for 24h aging, owing to the dissolution of primary phase during ho­ Gang Li: Investigation, Writing – review & editing. Qian Wang: Vali­
mogenization treatment and formation of nano-sized β’’ precipitates dation, Writing – review & editing. Yaqi Deng: Formal analysis, Writing
during aging treatment. This study provides new insights on alloy design – review & editing. Zhiping Wang: Project administration, Methodol­
strategy for high performance cast Al–Mg–Si alloys. ogy, Investigation, Formal analysis, Writing – review & editing. Gang
Sha: Formal analysis, Writing – review & editing. Haowei Wang:
Methodology, Writing – review & editing.

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X. Yuan et al. Journal of Materials Research and Technology 35 (2025) 5097–5106

Fig. 9. Fracture surface of 120 ◦ C@24h sample. (a) dispersed dimples in SEM micrograph at low magnitude; (b) dimples in SEM micrograph at high magnitude; (c)
corresponding SEM-EDS of (b); (d) the overleap of SEM micrograph and Zr, Si element maps. The fracture surface indicates that the Mg2Si phase may be broken
into fragments.

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[9] Qian W, Zhao Y, Kai X, Gao X, Huang L, Miao C. Characteristics of microstructural
On behalf of all authors, we declare that we have no financial and
and mechanical evolution in 6111Al alloy containing Al3(Er,Zr) nanoprecipitates.
personal relationships with other people or organizations that can Mater Char 2021;178:111310.
inappropriately influence our work, there is no professional or other [10] Li G, Guo M, Du J, Zhuang L. Synergistic improvement in bake-hardening response
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personal interest of any nature or kind in any product, service and/or
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Acknowledgments precipitation hardening behaviour of Al-Mg-Si-Cu alloys with different Mg/Si
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This work was financially supported by Natural Science Foundation [14] Tao GH, Liu CH, Chen JH, Lai YX, Ma PP, Liu LM. The influence of Mg/Si ratio on
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of Jiangsu Province (Grant No. BK20241496), Fundamental Research 642:241–8.
Funds for the Central Universities (No. 30924010307). Z.P. Wang would [15] Ding L, Jia Z, Liu Y, Weng Y, Liu Q. The influence of Cu addition and pre-straining
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