Magnesium alloy is the lightest practical metal. It has excellent specific strength and recyclability as well as abundant reserves, and is expected to be a next-generation structural metal material following aluminum alloy. This paper investigated the possibility of thin plate fabrication by applying a overheating treatment to the melt drag method, and investigating the surface shape of the thin plate, grain size, grain size distribution, and Vickers hardness. When the overheating treatment was applied to magnesium alloy, the grains were refined, so it is expected that further refinement of grains can be realized if the overheating treatment is applied to the melt drag method. By applying overheating treatment, it was possible to fabricate a thin plate of magnesium alloy using the melt drag method, and a microstructure with a minimum grain size of around 12 μm was obtained. As the overheating treatment temperature increased, void defects increased on the roll surface of the thin plate, and holding time had no effect on the surface shape of the thin plate. The fabricated thin plate showed uniform grain size distribution. When the holding times were 0 and 30 min, the grain size was refined, and the effect of the holding time became smaller as the overheating treatment temperature increased. As the overheating temperature becomes higher, the grain size becomes finer, and the finer the grain size is, the higher the Vickers hardness.

AZ31 magnesium alloy was used to manufacture a thin plate using a melt drag method. The effects of roll speed, molten metal temperature, and molten metal height, which are the basic factors of the melt drag method, on the surface shape, the thickness of the thin plate, Vickers hardness, and microstructure of the thin plate were investigated. It was possible to manufacture AZ31 magnesium alloy thin plate at the roll speed range of 1 to 90 m/min. The thickness of the thin plate, manufactured while changing only the roll speed, was about 1.8 to 8.8 mm. The shape of the solidified roll surface was affected by two conditions, the roll speed and the molten metal height, and the Vickers hardness of the manufactured magnesium alloy thin plate value ranged from Hv38~Hv60. The microstructure of the thin plate produced by this process was an equiaxed crystal and showed a uniform grain size distribution. The grain size was greatly affected by the contact state between the molten metal and the solidification roll, and the amount of reactive solids and liquids scraped at the same time as the thin plate. The average grain size of the thin plate fabricated in the range of these experimental conditions changed to about 50-300 μm.

To improve the shortcomings and expand the advantages of the single-roll melt drag method, which is a type of continuous strip casting method, the melt drag method with a molding belt is applied to AZ31 magnesium alloy. By attaching the forming belt to the melt drag method, the cooling condition of the thin plate is improved, making it possible to manufacture thin plates even at high roll speed of 100 m/min or more. In addition, it is very effective for continuous production of thin plates to suppress oxidation of the molten metal on the roll contact surface by selecting the protective gas. As a result of investigating the relationship between the contact time between the molten metal and the roll and the thickness of the sheet, it is possible to estimate the thickness of the sheet from the experimental conditions. The relationship between the thin plate thickness and the grain size is one in which the thinner the thin plate is, the faster the cooling rate of the thin plate is, resulting in finer grain size. The contact state between the molten metal and the roll greatly affects the grain size, and the minimum average grain size is 72 μm. The thin plate produced using this experimental equipment can be rolled, and the rolled sample has no large cracks. The tensile test results show a tensile strength of 303 MPa.

An investigation is performed to clarify the manufacturing conditions of pure magnesium and AZ31 magnesium alloy thin plate using the melt drag method. By the melt drag method, suitable for magnesium molten metal, pure magnesium can be produced as a continuous thin plate with a thickness of 1.4 mm to 2.4 mm in the range of 5 m/min to 20 m/min of roll speed, and the width of the thin plate to the nozzle outlet width. AZ31 magnesium alloy is able to produce a continuous sheet of thickness in the range of 5 m/min to 30 m/min in roll circumferential speed, with a thickness of 0.6 mm to 1.6 mm and a width of the sheet matching the nozzle outlet width. In the magnesium melt drag method, the faster the circumferential speed of the roll, the shorter the contact time between the molten metal and the roll, and it is found that the thickness of the produced thin plate becomes thinner. The effect of the circumferential roll speed on the thickness of the thin plate is evident in the low roll circumferential region, where the circumferential speed is 30 m/min or less. The AZ31 thin plate manufactured by the melt drag method has a finer grain size as the thickness of the thin plate decreases, but it is currently judged that this is not the effect of cooling by the roll.