Improving corrosive wear resistance of Mg-Zn-Y-Zr alloys through heat treatment

The wear behavior of an as-received Mg-Zn-Y-Zr alloy before and after a facile heat treatment was investigated under sliding in air and 0.5 wt.% NaCl solution. Results revealed that the wear resistance of the alloy was remarkably enhanced after the heat treatment, irrespective of testing condition. The wear mechanism was predominantly abrasive wear accompanied by oxidation under the dry sliding condition, while corrosive wear was dominant under sliding in the NaCl solution. The superior corrosive wear resistance was attributed to the homogenous distribution of fine I-phase precipitates in the alloy by the heat treatment, leading to a reduction in wear, corrosion as well as wear-corrosion synergy. The wear-accelerated corrosion rate was remarkably alleviated after the heat treatment. & COPY; 2021 Chongqing University. Publishing services provided by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi Communications Co. Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ ) Peer review under responsibility of Chongqing University

Automated summary

The wear resistance of an Mg-Zn-Y-Zr alloy was significantly improved after a heat treatment, regardless of the testing condition (air or NaCl solution). The dominant wear mechanism was abrasive wear accompanied by oxidation in dry sliding, while corrosive wear was dominant in the NaCl solution. The heat treatment resulted in the homogeneous distribution of fine I-phase precipitates, which enhanced the corrosive wear resistance and reduced wear, corrosion, and wear-corrosion synergy.