Mechanical properties of a powder metallurgically processed Mg–5Y–6Re alloy

A rapidly solidified powder of Mg–5 wt.%Y–6 wt.%Re alloy (chemical composition: Mg–4.74 wt.%Y–3.36 wt.%Nd–1.76 wt.%Pr–0.71 wt.%Ce) was extruded at 573 K with a reduction ratio of 20:1 in a vacuum. Mechanical properties of the P/M Mg alloy were investigated by velocity-constant tensile tests at room temperature to 773 K. The powder metallurgy Mg alloy had a mean grain size of 0.5 μm. The alloy exhibited a high strength of 536 MPa at room temperature and superplastic behavior at a high strain rate of 1.7×10−1 s−1 at 773 K. These characteristic mechanical properties might be attributed to the sub-micron grained structure.