Dans l’industrie aéronautique, le remplacement progressif des alliages d’aluminium par des alliages de magnésium est une des solutions pour alléger les avions et ainsi lutter contre le bruit et la pollution. En effet, avec une densité inférieure d’un tiers à celle de l’aluminium, le magnésium est le plus léger des métaux de structure. Toutefois, sa réactivité chimique importante restreint considérablement son domaine d’application. Malgré de bonnes propriétés mécaniques, un des problèmes des alliages de Mg est leur résistance à la corrosion, mal connue et peu maîtrisée en pratique. Les alliages de magnésium enrichis en aluminium (type AZ91D et AM50) sont actuellement les plus utilisés. Ils sont constitués de deux phases principales : la phase alpha et le précipité Mg17Al12 (phase ß). Ces alliages peuvent être synthétisés de plusieurs façons différentes : les procédés les plus utilisés actuellement sont la coulée sous pression (high pressure die casting) et la coulée gravitaire. La première partie de ce travail est consacrée à l’étude microstructurale et électrochimique des alliages de magnésium enrichis en aluminium et coulés par gravité ou sous pression. L’influence du pourcentage d’aluminium, ainsi que celle de l’état de surface, ont été étudiées. Dans des conditions de coeur, les alliages de magnésium présentent un comportement passif. L’augmentation de la teneur en aluminium permet généralement une meilleure tenue à la corrosion. Cependant, elle est aussi à l’origine du phénomène de piqûration aléatoire, engendré par une accumulation locale de phase ß. Dans des conditions de peau, les alliages coulés sous pression présentent systématiquement un comportement actif et, dans ce cas, l’augmentation de la teneur en aluminium a un effet néfaste sur la tenue à la corrosion, dû à la formation de larges plages de phase ß en surface engendrées par le processus d’élaboration lui-même. Enfin, le procédé d’élaboration par coulée gravitaire induit une forte rugosité qui procure aux alliages une mauvaise tenue à la corrosion dans des conditions de peau. La seconde partie de ce travail est une étude comparative entre les différents traitements de conversion chimique les plus utilisés actuellement sur les alliages de magnésium : les traitements de phosphatation amorphe ou à base de Ce(III) s’avèrent plus performants que celui de chromatation qui est désormais interdit en raison de la toxicité du chrome hexavalent. En revanche, le traitement à base de stannates s’est avéré très décevant. Cette étude s’est inscrite dans le cadre du projet européen IDEA (6ème PCRD) en collaboration avec une douzaine de partenaires européens et israéliens. / In the aeronautical industry, aluminium alloys are progressively replaced by magnesium alloys, so as to lighten planes and consequently decrease noise and pollution. Actually, with a density of one third lower than the one of aluminium, magnesium is the lightest structural metal. However, its high chemical reactivity limits its application field: in spite of good mechanical properties, the main drawback of magnesium alloys is their corrosion resistance, which is insufficiently known. At the moment, magnesium alloys enriched with aluminium (as AZ91D or AM50 ones) are among the most used. They are made of two main phases: alpha-phase and Mg17Al12 compound (ß-phase). These alloys can be synthesized of different ways. High pressure die casting and gravity die casting are among the most used processes. The first part of this work is a microstructural and electrochemical study of magnesium alloys enriched with aluminium and obtained with gravity or high pressure die castings. The aluminium content effect, as well as the surface state, were investigated. In bulk conditions, magnesium alloys show a passive behaviour. The higher the aluminium content is, the better the corrosion resistance is. But, for highest aluminium contents, an uncertain pitting phenomenon can also be induced, due to a local accumulation of ß-phase. In skin conditions, high pressure die casting alloys always show an active behaviour, and the higher the aluminium content is, the worse the corrosion resistance is, because of the formation of big areas of ß-phase near the alloy’s surface and due to the casting process itself. At least, the gravity die casting process induces a strong roughness which strongly decreases the magnesium alloys corrosion resistance in skin conditions. The second part of this work is a comparative study between the different chemical conversion coatings which are among the most used on magnesium alloys: phosphate-based and Ce(III)-based treatments are more corrosion resistant than chromate-based treatment. This last one is now forbidden because of the high toxicity of chromium (VI). In another hand, stannate-based treatment is the less protective one. This study was performed in the framework of the IDEA project (6th PCRD), in collaboration with a dozen of Israeli and European partners.

There are a need for reducing the weight of vehicles, one solution is to implement cast lightweight materials such as the high pressure die cast AM50 magnesium alloy. The weldability of this cast alloy is poor and to implement the use of the alloy commercially a welding process is needed that limits the porosity of the weld. The aim of this thesis is to study the effect of the welding parameters on the porosity in the weld, for three laser welding methods. The welding methods examined are single spot and twin spot laser using either a beam splitter or separate optics. The microstructure of the base material are also examined in order to evaluate relations between the components of the microstructure and the porosity in the weld. It was concluded that the hydrogen in the base material was the main reason for the observed porosity in the weld and that the material contains high pressure gas. The welding parameters did not influence the porosity for the single beam laser process, however, for the dual beam processes the welding parameters could affect the amount of pores. It was found that a double weld reduced the amount of pores and that the size and distribution of the secondary phase particles would benefit from the treatment. The cleaning of the samples prior to welding increased the porosity, however, non-cleaned samples contained more oxide inclusions. The results indicate that a twin beam process could reduce the porosity in the weld of the AM50 alloy. / Det finns ett behov av att reducera vikten på fordon, en lösning är att implementera gjutna lätta material såsom formsprutad AM50-magnesiumlegering. Svetsbarheten hos denna gjutna legering är dålig och för att kommersiellt kunna använda legeringen krävs en svetsprocess som begränsar svetsens porositet. Syftet med detta examensarbete är att studera svetsparametrarnas effekt på svetsens porositet för tre lasersvetsmetoder. De svetsmetoder som undersöks är enkelpunkts och dubbelpunktslaser där antingen en stråldelare eller separat optik använts. Basmaterialets mikrostruktur undersöks också för att utvärdera sambandet mellan mikrostrukturen och porositeten i svetsen. Man drog slutsatsen att väte i basmaterialet var huvudorsaken till den observerade porositeten i svetsen och att materialet innehåller gas under högt tryck. De undersökta svetsparametrarna påverkade inte porositeten för processen med en laserstråle, men för dubbelstråleprocesserna kan svetsparametrarna påverka mängden porer. Det visade sig att en svets utförd med två strålar minskade mängden porer och att storleken och fördelningen av sekundärfaspartiklarna gynnas av behandlingen. Prover som rengjordes före svetsning hade ökad porositet, men icke-rengjorda prover innehöll mer oxidinneslutningar. Resultaten indikerar att en dubbelstråleprocess kan minska porositeten då AM50-legeringen lasersvetsas.

The desire for energy and resource savings brings magnesium alloys as lightweight materials with high specific strength more and more into the focus. Most structural components are subjected to cyclic loading. In the course of computer aided product development, a numerical prediction of the fatigue life under these conditions must be provided. For this reason, the mechanical properties of the considered material must be examined in detail. Wrought magnesium semifinished products, e.g. magnesium sheet metals, typically reveal strong basal textures and thus, the mechanical behavior considerably differs from that of the well-established magnesium die castings. Magnesium sheet metals reveal a distinct difference in the tensile and compressive yield stress, leading to non-symmetric sigmoidal hysteresis loops within the elasto-plastic load range. These unusual hysteresis shapes are caused by cyclic twinning and detwinning. Furthermore, wrought magnesium alloys reveal pseudoelastic behavior, leading to nonlinear unloading curves. Another interesting effect is the formation of local twin bands during compressive loading. Nevertheless, only little information can be found on the numerical fatigue analysis of wrought magnesium alloys up to now. The aim of this thesis is the investigation of the mechanical properties of wrought magnesium alloys and the development of an appropriate fatigue model. For this purpose, twin roll cast AM50 as well as AZ31B sheet metals and extruded ME21 sheet metals were used. Mechanical tests were carried out to present a comprehensive overview of the quasi-static and cyclic material behavior. The microstructure was captured on sheet metals before and after loading to evaluate the correlation between the microstructure, the texture, and the mechanical properties. Stress- and strain-controlled loading ratios and strain-controlled experiments with variable amplitudes were performed. Tests were carried out along and transverse to the manufacturing direction to consider the influence of the anisotropy. Special focus was given to sigmoidal hysteresis loops and their influence on the fatigue life. A detailed numerical description of hysteresis loops is necessary for numerical fatigue analyses. For this, a one-dimensional phenomenological model was developed for elasto-plastic strain-controlled constant and variable amplitude loading. This model consists of a three-component equation, which considers elastic, plastic, and pseudoelastic strain components. Considering different magnesium alloys, good correlation is reached between numerically and experimentally determined hysteresis loops by means of different constant and variable amplitude load-time functions. For a numerical fatigue life analysis, an energy based fatigue parameter has been developed. It is denoted by “combined strain energy density per cycle” and consists of a summation of the plastic strain energy density per cycle and the 25 % weighted tensile elastic strain energy density per cycle. The weighting represents the material specific mean stress sensitivity. Applying the energy based fatigue parameter on modeled hysteresis loops, the fatigue life is predicted adequately for constant and variable amplitude loading including mean strain and mean stress effects. The combined strain energy density per cycle achieves significantly better results in comparison to conventional fatigue models such as the Smith-Watson-Topper model. The developed phenomenological model in combination with the combined strain energy density per cycle is able to carry out numerical fatigue life analyses on magnesium sheet metals.

The desire for energy and resource savings brings magnesium alloys as lightweight materials with high specific strength more and more into the focus. Most structural components are subjected to cyclic loading. In the course of computer aided product development, a numerical prediction of the fatigue life under these conditions must be provided. For this reason, the mechanical properties of the considered material must be examined in detail. Wrought magnesium semifinished products, e.g. magnesium sheet metals, typically reveal strong basal textures and thus, the mechanical behavior considerably differs from that of the well-established magnesium die castings. Magnesium sheet metals reveal a distinct difference in the tensile and compressive yield stress, leading to non-symmetric sigmoidal hysteresis loops within the elasto-plastic load range. These unusual hysteresis shapes are caused by cyclic twinning and detwinning. Furthermore, wrought magnesium alloys reveal pseudoelastic behavior, leading to nonlinear unloading curves. Another interesting effect is the formation of local twin bands during compressive loading. Nevertheless, only little information can be found on the numerical fatigue analysis of wrought magnesium alloys up to now. The aim of this thesis is the investigation of the mechanical properties of wrought magnesium alloys and the development of an appropriate fatigue model. For this purpose, twin roll cast AM50 as well as AZ31B sheet metals and extruded ME21 sheet metals were used. Mechanical tests were carried out to present a comprehensive overview of the quasi-static and cyclic material behavior. The microstructure was captured on sheet metals before and after loading to evaluate the correlation between the microstructure, the texture, and the mechanical properties. Stress- and strain-controlled loading ratios and strain-controlled experiments with variable amplitudes were performed. Tests were carried out along and transverse to the manufacturing direction to consider the influence of the anisotropy. Special focus was given to sigmoidal hysteresis loops and their influence on the fatigue life. A detailed numerical description of hysteresis loops is necessary for numerical fatigue analyses. For this, a one-dimensional phenomenological model was developed for elasto-plastic strain-controlled constant and variable amplitude loading. This model consists of a three-component equation, which considers elastic, plastic, and pseudoelastic strain components. Considering different magnesium alloys, good correlation is reached between numerically and experimentally determined hysteresis loops by means of different constant and variable amplitude load-time functions. For a numerical fatigue life analysis, an energy based fatigue parameter has been developed. It is denoted by “combined strain energy density per cycle” and consists of a summation of the plastic strain energy density per cycle and the 25 % weighted tensile elastic strain energy density per cycle. The weighting represents the material specific mean stress sensitivity. Applying the energy based fatigue parameter on modeled hysteresis loops, the fatigue life is predicted adequately for constant and variable amplitude loading including mean strain and mean stress effects. The combined strain energy density per cycle achieves significantly better results in comparison to conventional fatigue models such as the Smith-Watson-Topper model. The developed phenomenological model in combination with the combined strain energy density per cycle is able to carry out numerical fatigue life analyses on magnesium sheet metals.