Al-Mg-Si alloys are light weight and have excellent corrosion resistance, and are attracting attention as a liner material for high-pressure hydrogen containers in hydrogen fuel cell vehicles. Because it has excellent plastic hardening properties, it is also applied to car body panel materials, but it is moderate in strength, so research to improve the strength by adding Si-rich or Cu is in progress. So far, the authors have conducted research on the intergranular fracture of alloys with excessive Si addition from the macroscopic mechanical point of view, such as specimen shape. To evaluate their impact tensile properties, the split-Hopkinson bar impact test was performed using thin plate specimens of coarse and fine grain alloys of Al-Mg-X (X = Cr,Si) alloy. The effect of the shape of the specimen on the characteristics was studied through finite element method (FEM) analysis. As a result, it was found that the intergranular fracture of the alloy with excessive Si depended on the specimen width (W)/grain size (d), which can be expressed by the specimen size and grain size. As W/d decreases, the intergranular fracture transforms into a transgranular fracture. As the strain rate increases, the fracture elongation decreases, and the fracture surface of the intergranular fracture becomes more brittle. It was confirmed that intergranular fracture occurred in the high strain rate region even in materials with small grain sizes.

In this study, the effect of the transition elements on the microstructure and mechanical properties of rapidly solidified Al-Mg-X alloys was investigated. As a result of the rapid solidification processing, fine equiaxed grains with a mean diameter of 2 m were observed in these alloys. Many fine particles were found to be distributed rather homogeneously throughout the matrix with relatively large particles occasionally at grain boundaries. The ultimate tensile strengths of Al-Mg-X alloys were found to decrease rather remarkably at 150 without the gain of the ductility at 150 , which may result from segregation of () precipitates. Fine dimples were observed on the fracture surfaces for all alloy systems and the variation of the size and shape of dimples was not observed upon alloy systems. The ductility at 530 was found to be ~100%, suggesting that grain boundary sliding did not contribute to ductiliy despite he grain size stabilization. The absence of superplastic behavior may be associated with low boundary misorientation in rapidly solidified Al-Mg-X alloys.