The influence of zirconium additions on the corrosion of magnesium

Sixteen custom binary Mg-Zr alloys and four commercial Zr-containing Mg-alloys were used to investigate the role of Zr on the corrosion of Mg. Mg-Zr alloys were manufactured with a range of different Zr concentrations. It was observed that the Mg-Zr alloys with a smaller mean Zr particle size had more Zr dissolved in solid solution. Both the Zr in solid solution and in metallic particle form were observed to have a deleterious effect on the corrosion rate of Mg. However, this deleterious effect is less pronounced to effect in alloys with multiple alloying additions.