Ultra-high strength Mg-Li alloy with B2 particles and spinodal decomposition zones.

The bcc-structured Mg-Li alloy is currently the engineering metallic material with the lowest density, but it has not been widely used due to its low strength. In this paper, alloying Zn effectively improves the strength of the bcc-structured Mg-Li alloy. Due to the semi-coherent B2 structured nanoparticles, the compressive yield strength of the as-cast Mg-13Li-9Zn alloy reaches higher than 300 MPa. Due to the solid solution strengthening of Zn and the spinodal zone, the compressive yield strength of the as-quenched Mg-13Li-15Zn (LZ1315) alloy immediately increases to 400 MPa. In addition, the as-quenched LZ1315 alloy exhibits natural aging strengthening behavior. Due to the precipitation of B2 nanoparticles, the yield strength of the peak aged alloy is up to 495 MPa.