Fabrication of Al-Coated Mg–Li Alloy Sheet and Investigation of Its Properties

Abstract

An Al-coated Mg-8 mass% Li alloy rectangular bar was fabricated by hot extrusion, and then, it was hot-rolled into a thin sheet. The Al coating was uniform in thickness and had good bonding with the substrate during all the processing. This Al-coated Mg–Li alloy exhibited a good corrosion resistance in a 0.5 mass% HCl aqueous solution. No intermetallic compound was observed at the Al/Mg–Li interface after the extrusion and the rolling. The Al-coated Mg–Li alloy sheet exhibited an elongation to fracture of 35% at room temperature at a strain rate of 0.001 s⁻¹ without any debonding between the coating and the substrate. When tensile tested at 573 K at 0.001 s⁻¹ in the air, the Al coating remained undamaged even until an elongation of about 150%. Further elongation generated cracks on the coating and the specimen fractured at an elongation of about 200%. In an Ar atmosphere, the specimen exhibited a fracture elongation of over 400% under the same conditions at 573 K at 0.001 s⁻¹, although a large number of cracks generated on the Al coating.