Grain Refinement of Lightweight Aerospace Alloys

镁合金在航空航天工业中的使用一直在稳步增加。镁合金比钢轻约78%，比铝合金轻35%。由于这个原因，镁合金的使用带来了更好的燃油效率和温室气体排放。然而，镁合金存在蠕变抗力低、抗拉强度低、加工性能差、耐磨性和耐腐蚀性差等缺陷。为了满足航空航天合金的技术要求，必须提高镁合金的力学性能。提高合金力学性能的一个重要冶金过程是细化晶粒。本项目的目的是开发新型的细化剂和细化技术，以提高镁合金的力学性能。高性能镁合金的发展将使其融入航空航天零部件的产品设计中。这项创新技术的发展将带来收入的增长，以及高技能劳动力的就业机会，这将有利于加拿大经济。

The use of magnesium alloys in the aerospace industry has been increasing steadily. Magnesium alloys areabout 78% lighter than steel and 35% lighter than aluminum alloys. Due to this reason, the use of magnesiumalloys results in better fuel efficiency and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. However, magnesium alloyssuffer from several limitations such as low creep resistance, lower tensile strength, poor workability, and lowwear and corrosion resistance. To meet the technical specifications for use in aerospace alloys, the mechanicalproperties of magnesium alloys must be improved. An important metallurgical process to increase themechanical properties of alloys is grain refinement. The aim of this project is to develop novel grain refinersand grain refining techniques to improve the mechanical properties of magnesium alloys. The development ofhigh performance magnesium alloys will lead to their incorporation in the product design of aerospacecomponents. The development of this innovative technology will lead to growth in revenue as well asemployment opportunity for highly skilled manpower, which will benefit Canadian economy.