Mg-Zn-RE alloys had a novel lond period stacking ordered (LPO) structure. Their rapidly solidified powder metallurgy (RS P/M) alloys exhibited a combination of high strength and god ductility (tensile yield strength above 550 MPa and elongation above 5%). The LPO Mg-Zn-RE RS P/M alloys had high elevated temperature strength (tensile yield strength above 380 MPa at 473 K) and exhibited a high-strain-rate superplasticity at higher temperatures. In Japan, a national project for developing high strength LPO Mg-Zn-RE RS P/M alloys has started at 2003 for 5 years, which is founded by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) of Japan. In the national project, project targets in materials performances have been achieved. The developed LPO Mg-Zn-RE RS P/M alloys exhibited higher tensile yield strength, fatigue strength and corrosion resistance than high strength aluminum alloys of extra-super-duralumin (7075-T6).

Rapidly solidified ribbon-consolidation processing was applied for preparation of high strength bulk Mg-Zn-Gd alloys. Mg alloys have been used in automotive and aerospace industries. Rapid solidification (RS) process is suitable for the development of high strength Mg alloys, because the process realizes grain-refinement, increase in homogeneity, and so on. Recently, several nanocrystalline Mg-Zn-Y alloys with high specific tensile strength and large elongation have been developed by rapidly solidified powder metallurgy (RS P/M) process. Mg-Zn-Y RS P/M alloys are characterized by long period ordered (LPO) structure and sub-micron fine grains. The both additions of rare earth elements and zinc remarkably improved the mechanical properties of RS Mg alloys. Mg-Zn-Gd alloy also forms LPO structure in -Mg matrix coherently, therefore, it is expected that the RS Mg-Zn-Gd alloys have excellent mechanical properties. In this study, we have developed high strength RS Mg-Zn-Gd alloys with LPO structure and nanometer-scale precipitates by RS ribbon-consolidation processing. and and bulk alloys exhibited high tensile yield strength (470 MPa and 525 MPa and 566 MPa) and large elongation (5.5% and 2.8% and 2.4%).

Fabrication of bulk alloy has been performed through the consolidation of rapidly solidified ribbons. The bulk alloy exhibited excellent mechanical properties, high tensile yield strength of 530 MPa, and large elongation of 3 %. Microstructure of the alloy was characterized by equiaxed fine grains that consist of -Mg, long period ordered (LPO) structure phase, and -type cubic compound. The strengthening of the alloys may be due to fine grains with LPO structure phase and -type compound.

Compositional dependence of corrosion behavior of rapidly solidified Mg-rich Mg-Zn-Y alloys in NaCl aqueous solution has been investigated. Mg-Zn-Y ternary alloys containing small amounts of Zn exhibited low corrosion rate, although the (at. %) binary alloy showed severe corrosion with violet evolution of hydrogen. The alloy with highest corrosion-resistance was , its corrosion rate was about 1 mm year-1 in 0.17 M (1.0 wt. %) NaCl solution. alloy exhibited passive region in anodic polarization curves when immersed in NaCl solution. Rapidly solidification and small amount of Zn addition may bring about an increase in electrochemical homogeneity of Mg-Zn-Y alloys, resulting in enhancement of corrosion resistance.

High heat-resistant Al-Fe-V-Si and Al-Fe-V-Si-X rapidly solidified powder metallurgy (RS P/M) alloys have been developed under well-controlled high purity argon gas atmosphere. The (at. %) RS P/M alloy exhibited high elevated-temperature strength exceeding 300 MPa and good ductility with elongation of 6 % at 573 K. Reduction of partical pressure in P/M processing atmosphere led to improvement in mechanical properties of the powder-consolidated alloys under elevated-temperature service conditions. Ti addition to the Al-Fe-V-Si conduced to enhancement of the strength at room temperature. The tensile yeild strength and ultimate strenght were 545 MPa and 722 MPa, respectively.

Vacuum degassing is essential in the preparation of RS P/M aluminum alloys to remove adsorbates and for the decomposition of hydrated- on the powder surface. Changes in the surface characteristics during vacuum degassing were investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and temperature-programmed desorption measurement. Hydrated- decomposition to crystalline- and hydrogen desorption on the surface of argon gas-atomized aluminum powder occurred at 623 K and 725 K, respectively. This temperature difference suggests that the reaction converting hydrated- to crystalline- during vacuum degassing should be divided into the two reactions .