Quantitative kink boundaries strengthening effect of Mg-Y-Zn alloy containing LPSO phase

Abstract This study represents the quantitative kink-band strengthening effect using uniaxial hot-compressed Mg-9%Y-6%Zn alloy. When room-temperature micro-Vickers indentation was performed on a specific area containing kink boundaries under a low indentation load of 10 gf, the magnitude of increase in hardness due to kink-band strengthening was closely related with the number of kink boundaries beneath the indentation, i.e., the kink-band strengthening effect can be expressed by the number of kink boundaries. It is noted that this increased value is calculated by subtraction from the hardness value of the matrix without kink boundaries. The present estimated kink-band strengthening values via microscopic empirical analysis is in a similar range to those of prior macroscopic analysis obtained from the results of compression tests using bulk specimens.