Materials Science & Engineering A 718 (2018) 418–426

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Materials Science & Engineering A

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/msea

Effect of Zr content on damping property of Mg–Zr binary alloys T

a,c a,c b,c a,⁎ a,⁎
Rui-long Niu , Fang-jia Yan , Yun-si Wang , Dong-ping Duan , Xue-min Yang
a
CAS Key Laboratory of Green Process and Engineering, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, PR China
b
CAS Key Laboratory of Comprehensive and highly Efficient Utilization of Salt Lake Resources, Qinghai Institute of Salt Lakes, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining
810008, PR China
c
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, PR China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: The damping property expressed by internal friction tan φ of as-cast Mg–Zr binary alloys with Zr content from
Damping properties 0.6 to 5.0% was experimentally measured under conditions of changing temperature from ambient temperature
As-cast Mg–Zr binary alloys Tam to 600 K (327 °C), vibration frequency f from 1.0 to 10.0 Hz, strain ε from 1.0 × 10–6 to 1.0 × 10–3, and
Effect of Zr content heating rate ν from 2 to 5 K/min. The experimental results indicate that the damping property of prepared as-
Dislocation
cast Mg–Zr binary alloys can be effectively promoted by increasing either heating rate ν or strain ε . Increasing
Damping mechanism
vibration frequency f can effectively decrease the damping property, however increasing vibration frequency f
Dislocation pinning theory
has little effect on the plots of internal friction tan φ against temperature T , i.e., T –tan φ curve, under the
condition of f > 5.0 Hz. The optimal Zr content of the as-cast Mg–Zr binary alloys with better performance of
damping property is recommended to be 0.6 mass % in a range of Zr content from 0.6 to 5.0%. Furthermore, the
effect of strain ε on damping property for the as-cast Mg–Zr binary alloys can be ideally explained by dislocation
pinning theory or the G–L model, while the influence of temperature T on damping property for the as-cast
Mg–Zr binary alloys complies with the viscoelastic relaxation behaviour.

1. Introduction due to their outstanding advantages of low density, high specific

The mechanical vibration, which is indispensably involved in many
industry processes and production practices, can induce many harmful
effects such as brittle cracks and reduce precision of equipments. The
brittle cracks by mechanical vibration can shorten the service life of
equipments [1,2]. In order to decrease the harmful effects by me-
chanical vibration, the claimed damping materials, which can effec-
tively decrease mechanical vibration through the effect of internal
friction, had been developed and widely applied in many industrial
fields. The widely applied damping materials cover rubbers, plastics,
metal-based alloys, composite materials, damping coatings and so on
[3]. In recent years, metal-based damping materials have been largely
used for preserving structural stability under mechanical vibration of
equipments in a large range of operation temperature T and mechanical
vibration frequency f .
According to the proposed theories of damping mechanism, the
developed metal-based damping materials can be classified into at least
five kinds [4] as dislocation type, twin type, ferromagnetic type, su-
perplastic type and complex phase type.
Light metal alloys, especially Mg-based alloys [5–7], as metal-based
damping materials of dislocation type have attracted many concerns
strength, and ideal performances of dislocation damping under condi-
tions of low temperature T and small strain ε . It was verified [7,8] that
Mg–Zr binary alloys have superior damping properties because the
added Zr can evidently refine grains, increase dislocation density, and
improve internal friction damping performances.
It is well known that the mechanical properties usually have nega-
tive effect on damping properties for many metal-based alloys [9].
However, no enough focus was put on purely improving the damping
properties of Mg-based alloys regardless of mechanical properties. Due
to the aforementioned advantages of Zr on light metal-based alloys,
many researchers [5,7,10,11] had paid attention to developing Mg-
based alloys of ideal damping properties coupled with good mechanical
properties.
In the present work, the as-cast Mg–Zr binary alloys with Zr content
from 0.6 to 5.0% were first refined and prepared. After that, the in-
ternal friction tan φ was measured to describe the damping properties of
prepared Mg–Zr binary alloys under conditions of strain ε from 1.0 ×
10–6 to 1.0 × 10–3, temperature T from ambient temperature Tam to
600 K (327 °C), four vibration frequency f at 0.5, 1.0, 5.0, and 10.0 Hz,
and two heating rates ν at 5 and 2 K/min. Moreover, the influences of
operation parameters including strain ε , temperature T , and heating

⁎
Corresponding authors.
E-mail addresses: douglass@ipe.ac.cn (D.-p. Duan), yangxm71@ipe.ac.cn (X.-m. Yang).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.msea.2018.01.115
Received 19 November 2017; Accepted 26 January 2018
Available online 31 January 2018
0921-5093/ © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
R.-l. Niu et al. Materials Science & Engineering A 718 (2018) 418–426

List of symbols W Maximum energy in any vibration period, (J)

A Amplitude, (mm) Greek symbols

C1 Coefficient, (Dimensionless)
C2 Coefficient, (Dimensionless) δ Damping property expressed by logarithmic decrement,
E Activation energy, (kJ/mol) (Dimensionless)
f Vibration frequency, (Hz) δ0 Damping property expressed by logarithmic decrement
Δfr Half-power bandwidth at the resonance peak, (Hz) related with vibration frequency f , rather than strain ε ,
fr Resonant frequency, (Hz) (Dimensionless)
i Imaginary unit, (Dimensionless) δH Damping property expressed by logarithmic decrement
K Constant, (Dimensionless) related with strain ε , rather than vibration frequency f ,
k Boltzmann constant, (1.38 × 10–23 J/K) (Dimensionless)
M Elastic modulus, (MPa) εcr Critical strain, (Dimensionless)
m Coefficient, for ideal viscoelastic body m is defined as 1.0, ε0 Maximum strain, (Dimensionless)
(Dimensionless) ν Heating rate, (K/min)
n Constant, (Dimensionless) σ0 Maximum stress, (Pa)
−1
Qam Damping property expressed by inverse quality factor at τ Relaxation time, (s)
ambient temperature Tam , (Dimensionless) φ Phase angle between stress σ and strain ε , (rad)
QT−1 Damping property expressed by inverse quality factor at ω Angular velocity, (rad/s)
temperature T , (Dimensionless)
T Absolute temperature, (K) Subscripts
tan φ Damping property expressed by tangent of phase angle
between stress σ and strain ε , also named as internal am Ambient temperature
friction, (Dimensionless) cr Critical value
ΔW Energy dissipated in any vibration period, (J)

rate ν on internal friction tan φ of as-cast Mg–Zr binary alloys with Zr alloys in Al2O3 crucible were taken out from the furnace system and
content from 0.6 to 5.0% were discussed and explained by the dis- then cooled to ambient temperature Tam in air atmosphere.
location damping model [12,13] and viscoelastic relaxation criterion
[14–16]. The damping mechanism of Mg–Zr binary alloys was deduced 2.2. Determination of damping properties of as-cast Mg–Zr binary alloys
and wished to provide useful information to design the optimal com-
position of Mg–Zr binary alloys as well as ternary alloys investigated in It is well known that four kinds of measurements are usually applied
the near future with wonderful damping performances and mechanical to express the damping properties of materials as follows: 1) The
properties. logarithmic decrement δ method [17] expressed by δ = ln(Ai / Ai + 1 )
from the amplitude of vibration Ai at the i th vibration cycle and Ai + 1 at
the (i + 1)th vibration cycle. 2) The specific damping capacity (SDC)
2. Experimental method [18] expressed by SDC = ΔW / W from the dissipated energy
ΔW of any vibration cycle divided by system energy W of the vibration
2.1. Preparation of as-cast Mg–Zr binary alloys cycle; 3) The inverse quality factor Q−1 method [19] expressed by
Q−1 = Δfr / fr , where fr is resonance frequency (Hz), Δfr is the half-power
Six samples of as-cast Mg–Zr binary alloys with Zr content of 0.6%, bandwidth at the resonance peak of fr (Hz). 4) The method of tangent
1%, 1.5%, 2%, 2.5% and 5.0% were prepared in an intermediate fre- phase angle φ [20] expressed by tan φ from measured stress σ and strain
quency vacuum induction melting furnace using Mg–30.0Zr binary al- ε . It should be emphasized [21] that the inverse quality factor Q−1 is
loys as master alloys and pure magnesium ingot with 99.9 mass % equal to the tangent phase angle φ, i.e., Q−1 = tan φ. The relationships
purity as the secondary raw material. The chemical compositions of among aforementioned four parameters for describing damping prop-
Mg–30.0Zr binary alloys and pure magnesium ingot are summarized in erties can be correlated under the condition of small strain ε as follows
Table 1. [21]:
The refining procedures of Mg–Zr binary alloys can be summarized
as follows: 1) two kinds of raw materials of Mg–30Zr binary alloys and δ / π = SDC /2π = Q−1 = tan φ (1)
pure magnesium ingots in a graphite crucible were put in the medium The damping properties of prepared samples of as-cast Mg–Zr
frequency vacuum induction melting furnace at ambient temperature binary alloys were measured by the method of tangent phase angle φ ,
Tam ; 2) the induction melting furnace system was pumped into a pres- i.e., tan φ, through a dynamic mechanical analyzer (DMA) produced by
sure of 0.1 Pa at ambient temperature Tam ; 3) then, high purity Ar gas of TA Instruments in a type of Q800 (Q800–DMA). The forced vibration in
99.999% as protection gas was inlet into the induction melting furnace
for at least 10 min to ensure the inert atmosphere within the furnace Table 1
system; 4) the induction melting furnace was heated to 943 K (670 °C) Chemical compositions of applied Mg–Zr master alloy and pure Mg ingot.
at a heating rate ν of 10 K/min, and maintained for at least 5 min; 5)
after that, the electromagnetic agitation system was introduced for at Raw Chemical composition (mass %)
materials
least 3 min to ensure the uniformity of chemical composition of Mg–Zr
Zr Fe Ni Cu Si Al Mn Mg
binary molten alloys; 6) molten Mg–Zr binary alloys were poured into
an Al2O3 crucible with inner diameter in 100 mm under Ar gas atmo- Mg–Zr 30.98 0.049 0.006 0.001 0.018 0.006 0.003 margin
sphere in the induction melting furnace system; 7) Mg–Zr binary alloys master
alloy
in Al2O3 crucible were cooled in the induction melting furnace system
Pure Mg tr. 0.003 0.0002 0.002 0.009 0.017 0.0017 99.9518
to a temperature of 673 K (400 °C), which was lower than the liquidus ingot
lines according to the Mg–Zr binary phase diagram; 8) Mg–Zr binary

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the test mode of single cantilever beam was applied in this study to
obtain the tangent phase angle φ from measured stress σ and strain ε .
The measured six samples were first cut into the size of 30 mm ×
10 mm × 2 mm from the as-cast Mg–Zr binary alloys using the electric
spark line cutting technique, and then polished by silicon carbide
abrasive paper in size of 800, 1600, and 2000 grits for successively
polishing the surface of samples before testing the damping properties.
Three groups of testing experiments were conducted to describe the
damping properties of the as-cast Mg–Zr binary alloys: 1) effect of strain
ε from 1.0 × 10–6 to 1.0 × 10–3 on internal friction tan φ at two
constant temperatures of ambient temperature Tam and 373 K (100 °C)
under the condition of f = 1.0 Hz; 2) influence of temperature T from
ambient temperature Tam to 600 K (327 °C) on internal friction tan φ at
two heating rates ν of 5 and 2 K/min under conditions of four vibration
frequencies as 0.5, 1.0, 5.0, and 10.0 Hz, and constant strain ε = 1.0 ×
10–4; 3) relationship between temperature T and internal friction tan φ
at two constant strain ε as 1.0 × 10–4 and 1.0 × 10–5 at heating rate ν
= 5 K/min under the condition of vibration frequency f = 1.0 Hz.
3. Experimental results
Three groups of experiments were conducted to obtain the plots of
ε –tan φ at two temperatures, plots of T –tan φ at constant strain ε , and
influence of strain ε on plots T –tan φ in the following sub-sections.
3.1. Plots of ε –tan φ at two temperatures
The effect of strain ε from 1.0 × 10–6 to 1.0 × 10–3 on internal
friction tan φ for six samples of as-cast Mg–Zr binary alloys with Zr
content from 0.6 to 5.0% at two constant temperatures of ambient
temperature Tam and 373 K (100 °C) under vibration frequency f =
1.0 Hz is shown in Fig. 1, respectively. It can be evidently observed in
six sub-figures of Fig. 1 that there is a two-segment characteristics of
ε –tan φ curves. This implies that the internal frictions tan φ of six
Fig. 1. Effect of strain ε on internal friction tan φ for six samples of Mg–Zr binary alloys with mass percentage of Zr from 0.6 to 5.0 (a-f) at two temperatures of ambient temperature and
373 K (100 °C) under condition of frequency f = 1.0 Hz, respectively.
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samples show a small increasing tendency with an increase of strain ε
under the condition of strain ε less than a certain value as the critical
strain εcr ; however, the internal frictions tan φ display a greatly in-
creasing trend with an increase of strain ε under the condition of strain
ε greater than the critical strain εcr .
Meanwhile, it can also be obtained from six sub-figures of Fig. 1 that
increasing temperature from Tam to 373 K (100 °C) cannot dramatically
change the two-segment characteristics of ε –tan φ curves and the value
of critical strain εcr . Actually, the measured values of internal friction
tan φ at T = 373 K (100 °C) are always slightly larger than those at T =
Tam under the condition of strain ε < εcr . This result is attributed to the
thermal activation effect under the condition of ε < εcr .
However, the measured values of internal friction tan φ for five
samples except for No. 6 sample (Mg–5.0Zr) at T = 373 K (100 °C) are
lower than those at T = Tam under the condition of ε > εcr . This means
that the thermal activation effect at T = 373 K (100 °C) disappears
under condition of T = Tam . According to the correlated relationship
[12,13,22–24] between dislocation density and internal friction tan φ,
larger dislocation density in the matrix alloys under the condition of
greater strain ε can be seriously entangled into dislocation networks.
The formed dislocation networks in the matrix alloys result into de-
creasing the quantity of mobile dislocation. Thus, this result of smaller
internal friction tan φ at T = 373 K (100 °C) under the condition of
ε > εcr can be easily understood. It should be pointed out that the lar-
gest difference of tan φ at two temperatures occurs under the condition
of ε = 4.0 × 10–4.
3.2. Plots of T − tan φ at constant strain ε
3.2.1. Effect of vibration frequency f on plots of T –tan φ at constant strain
ε
The influence of temperature T from ambient temperature Tam to
600 K (327 °C) on internal friction tan φ for six samples of as-cast Mg–Zr
binary alloys with Zr content from 0.6 to 5.0% at a heating rate ν as
R.-l. Niu et al. Materials Science & Engineering A 718 (2018) 418–426

5 K/min under conditions of vibration frequency f as 0.5, 1.0, 5.0, and

10.0 Hz and strain ε = 1.0 × 10–4 is illustrated in Fig. 2, respectively. A
two-segment characteristics of T –tan φ curves can be observed in Fig. 2,
which is like that of the ε –tan φ curves in Fig. 1. This means that the
internal frictions tan φ of six samples display a slowly increasing ten-
dency with an increase of temperature T from Tam to 470 K (197 °C);
however, the internal frictions tan φ exhibit a greatly increasing trend
with an increase of temperature T from 470 to 600 K (197 to 327 °C)
and reach the maximum value of tan φ at temperature T = 550–600 K
(277 – 327 °C). In addition, increasing vibration frequency f can lead
to an obviously decreasing tendency of internal friction tan φ. The
decay effect of tan φ at temperatures of T > 470 K (197 °C) by in-
creasing vibration frequency f is clearly larger than that at tempera-
tures of T < 470 K (197 °C).
Increasing vibration frequency f from 5.0 to 10.0 Hz cannot cause
any visible effect on internal friction tan φ because two curves of
T –tan φ at two vibration frequencies f in Fig. 2 are almost identical. It
Fig. 3. Influence of mass percentage of Zr from 0.6 to 5.0 on T –tan φ plots for six samples
can be deduced that internal friction tan φ for the prepared as-cast
of Mg–Zr binary alloys at heating rate as 5 K/min under conditions of strain ε = 1.0 ×
Mg–Zr binary alloys cannot be easily improved by increasing vibration 10–4 and frequency f = 1.0 Hz, respectively.
frequency f under the condition of f > 5.0 Hz.

peak values of internal friction tan φ for six samples with Zr content
3.2.2. Effect of Zr content on plots of T –tan φ at constant strain ε
from 0.6 to 5.0% can be obtained as
The effect of Zr content from 0.6 to 5.0% on internal friction tan φ
tan φ0.6 > tan φ2.5 > tan φ2.0 > tan φ1.5 > tan φ1.0 > tan φ5.0 .
for six samples of as-cast Mg–Zr binary alloys in a temperature range
The larger values of internal friction tan φ for No. 1 sample
from 300 to 600 K (27 to 327 °C) at heating rate v=5 K/min under
(Mg–0.6Zr) indicate that the Mg–0.6Zr sample exhibits better high-
conditions of strain ε = 1.0 × 10–4 and vibration frequency f =
temperature damping properties compared with other five samples.
1.0 Hz, is displayed in Fig. 3, respectively. Increasing Zr content from
This finding is in good consistency with result by other researchers
0.6 to 5.0% cannot dramatically change the obtained two-segment
[25–27].
characteristics of T –tan φ curves in Fig. 3. Obviously, the damping
properties of No. 1 sample (Mg–0.6Zr) are better than those of other
five samples. However, the peak values of internal friction tan φ for 3.2.3. Effect of heating rate ν on plots of T –tan φ at constant strain ε
other five samples appear at almost the same temperature T regardless The influence of heating rates ν as 2 and 5 K/min on plots of T –tan φ
of Zr content in the as-cast Mg–Zr binary alloys. The decreasing order of in a temperature range from ambient temperature Tam to 600 K (327 °C)

Fig. 2. Effect of vibration frequency f from 0.5 to 10.0 Hz on T –tan φ plots for six samples of Mg–Zr binary alloys with mass percentage of Zr from 0.6 to 5.0 (a-f) at heating rate as 5 K/
min under condition of strain ε = 1.0 × 10–4, respectively.

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Fig. 4. Influence of two heating rates as 2 and 5 K/min on T –tan φ plots for six samples of Mg–Zr binary alloys with mass percentage of Zr from 0.6 to 5.0 (a-f) under conditions of strain ε
= 1.0 × 10–4 and frequency f = 1.0 Hz, respectively.

for six samples with Zr content from 0.6 to 5.0% under conditions of greater values of internal friction tan φ for five samples only except for
vibration frequency f = 1.0 Hz and strain ε = 1.0 × 10–4 is displayed No. 6 sample (Mg–5.0Zr) in the first segment of T –tan φ curves. How-
in Fig. 4, respectively. Higher heating rate ν as 5 K/min can cause ever, the peak value of internal friction tan φ cannot be obtained for No.

Fig. 5. Influence of two strains ε = 1.0 × 10–5 and 1.0 × 10–4 on T –tan φ plots for six samples of Mg–Zr binary alloys with mass percentage of Zr from 0.6 to 5.0 (a-f) under conditions of
frequency f = 1.0 Hz and heating rate ν = 5 K/min, respectively.

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1 sample (Mg–0.6Zr) from plot of T –tan φ . Thus, greater heating rate ν
at 5 K/min can effectively improve the peak values of internal friction
tan φ according to plots of T –tan φ for five samples.
3.3. Influence of strain ε on plots T –tan φ at constant vibration frequency f
and heating rate ν
The influence of strain ε as 1.0 × 10–4 and 1.0 × 10–5 on plots of
T –tan φ in a temperature range from ambient temperature Tam to
600 K (327 °C) for six samples of as-cast Mg–Zr binary alloys with Zr
content from 0.6 to 5.0% under conditions of vibration frequency f =
1.0 Hz and heating rate ν at 5 K/min is displayed in Fig. 5, respectively.
Larger strain at ε = 1.0 × 10–4 can bring about greater internal friction
tan φ for five samples only except for No. 6 sample (Mg–5.0Zr) in
T –tan φ curves.
It is a widely accepted viewpoint from the dislocation pinning
model [12,13] by Granat and Lücke in 1956, i.e., the G–L model, that
dislocation will mainly vibrate among the strong pinning points be-
cause dislocation can easily get rid of weak pinning points under a
larger stress σ . Thus, dislocation can dissipate a lot of energy and
possess higher damping capacity such as internal friction tan φ in this
study. Certainly, the results of greater strain as ε = 1.0 × 10–4 caused
by greater internal friction tan φ in Fig. 5 can be well explained by the
dislocation pinning model [12,13].
The first-segment in the two-segment plot of T –tan φ curve for No. 6
sample (Mg–5.0Zr) is different from that of the other five samples.
However, increasing strain ε cannot result in obvious change of the
second-segment in the two-segment plot of T –tan φ curve for No. 6
sample (Mg–5.0Zr) with unknown reasons, which should be in-
vestigated in the future.
4. Discussion
The mechanisms for explaining the reasons of two-segment plots of
ε –tan φ in Fig. 1 and plots of T –tan φ in Fig. 2 are provided in the fol-
lowing sub-sections.
4.1. Damping mechanism of plots of ε –tan φ at constant temperature
It was verified [25] that the damping characteristics of various al-
loys such as internal friction tan φ is mainly induced by the vibration of
intrinsic dislocations. Hence, the damping characteristics of various
alloys is also named as dislocation damping. The damping character-
istics of various alloys can be well explained by the dislocation pinning
model [12,13] proposed by Granat and Lücke. The essences of dis-
location pinning model or G–L model can be summarized as follows: 1)
Dislocation in metal-based alloys as line defects will be pinned by
strong pinning points as grain boundary, phase interface, precipitation,
Fig. 6. Relationship between ln (δH ε ) = ln (επ tan φ) and 1/ ε for six samples of Mg–Zr binary alloys with mass percentage of Zr from 0.6 to 5.0 at two temperatures of ambient
temperature (a) and 373 K (100 °C) (b) based on data in Fig. 1 through G–L model, respectively.
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Materials Science & Engineering A 718 (2018) 418–426
or dislocation network node etc., and pinned by weak pinning points as
vacancies or solute atoms etc. 2) When stress σ is smaller than the
breakaway stress, damping capacity expressed by δ0 caused by dis-
location pinned by weak pinning points for metal-based alloys is related
with vibration frequency f , rather than strain ε . 3) When stress σ is
greater than the breakaway stress, damping capacity expressed by δH
caused by dislocation pinned by strong pinning points for metal-based
alloys is related with strain ε , rather than vibration frequency f . The
defined damping capacity expressed by δH can be expressed as [28]:
δH = (C1/ ε )exp(−C2/ ε ) (2)
where C1 and C2 are coefficients (dimensionless). Furthermore, higher
C1 and lower C2 lead to larger δH . Eq. (2) can be rewritten as [28]:
ln(δH ε ) = ln C1−C2/ ε (3)
Obviously, the linear relationship between ln (δH ε ) and 1/ ε can be
used as a criterion to verify whether or not the metal-based damping
materials comply with the G–L model [12,13,29].
The obtained internal friction tan φ of Mg–Zr binary alloys in this
study can be transformed to δH by [30–32]:
δH = π tan φ (tan φ < 0.06) (4)
Based on the experimental results of plots of ε –tan φ at Tam and
373 K (100 °C) in Fig. 1, the relationship between ln (δH ε ) and 1/ ε is
displayed in Fig. 6. The good linear relationships of ln (δH ε ) against 1/ ε at
Tam and 373 K (100 °C) for six samples with Zr content from 0.6 to 5.0% in
Fig. 6 indicate that the damping characteristics of Mg–Zr binary alloys
comply with the G–L model. According to the regressed results of two
coefficients C1 and C2 listed in Table 2, No. 1 sample (Mg–0.6Zr) has
greater intercept as ln C1 and smaller slope as C2 . This means that No. 1
sample (Mg–0.6Zr) has better damping properties than other five samples.
4.2. Damping mechanism of plots of T –tan φ at constant strain ε
According to the viscoelastic relaxation behaviour [38], the re-
lationship between damping property expressed by internal friction
tan φT or damping capacity QT−1 at a fixed temperature T and damping
−1
capacity Qam at ambient temperature Tam was correlated as [33–37]:
K
tan φT ≡ QT−1 = Qam
−1
+
[ωexp(E / kT )]n (5)
where −1
Qam is the damping capacity at Tam (dimensionless), E is the
activation energy (kJ/mol), ω is the angular frequency (rad/s), k is the
Boltzmann constant (1.38 × 10–23 J/K), n and K are constants (di-
mensionless). Eq. (5) can be rewritten into natural logarithmic form as
[33–37]:
nE
ln (QT−1 − Qam
−1
) = ⎛ln K − ⎞ − n ln ω
⎝ kT ⎠ (6)
R.-l. Niu et al. Materials Science & Engineering A 718 (2018) 418–426

Table 2 Table 3
Obtained values of coefficients C1 and C2 involved in G–L model or dislocation pinning Obtained results of constant n and activation energy E for as-cast Mg–Zr binary alloys
theory. with different mass percentage of Zr.

Specimen No. Chemical composition of six C1 ( × 105) C2 ( × 104) Specimen No. Sample contents n Activation energy E , (kJ/mol)
samples (mass %)
298 K 373 K 298 K 373 K 1 Mg–0.6 Zr 0.23 84.4
2 Mg–1.0 Zr 0.30 99.5
No. 1 Mg–0.6 Zr 3.80 4.35 2.23 2.34 3 Mg–1.5 Zr 0.28 102.9
No. 2 Mg–1.0 Zr 2.60 2.59 2.38 2.34 4 Mg–2.0 Zr 0.32 103.4
No. 3 Mg–1.5 Zr 3.74 2.73 2.84 2.23 5 Mg–2.5 Zr 0.31 97.1
No. 4 Mg–2.0 Zr 2.62 2.59 2.29 2.04 6 Mg–5.0 Zr 0.35 98.1
No. 5 Mg–2.5 Zr 2.79 2.74 2.12 2.09
No. 6 Mg–5.0 Zr 2.81 3.13 2.35 2.20

The experimental results of plots of T –tan φ at constant strain ε in

Fig. 2 can be applied to calculate the required data to build the corre-
lation between ln(QT−1 − Qam −1
) and ln ω. Certainly, The linear relation-
ship between ln(QT−1 − Qam −1
) and ln ω should become a criterion to
verify whether or not the prepared as-cast Mg–Zr binary alloys comply
with the viscoelastic relaxation behaviour [38].
The relationship between ln(QT−1 − Qam −1
) and ln ω = ln(2πf ) for as-
cast Mg–Zr binary alloys at constant strain ε is illustrated in Fig. 7. It
−1
should be mentioned that the applied Qam in Fig. 7 or in Eq. (5) or Eq.
(6) was obtained that under the condition of vibration frequency f =
10.0 Hz, which was recommended by Rivière [35].
Good linear relationships between ln(QT−1 − Qam −1
) and ln ω in Fig. 7
indicate that the damping properties of as-cast Mg–Zr binary alloys are
in good agreement with the viscoelastic relaxation theory [35]. Ac-
cording to the results in Fig. 7, the constant n and the activation energy
E can be easily determined from the regressed linear relationship of
Fig. 8. Effect of mass percentage of Zr from 0.6 to 5.0 on obtained activation energy E for
ln(QT−1 − Qam
−1
) against ln ω and are listed in Table 3. six samples of Mg–Zr binary alloys.
The influence of Zr content on the obtained activation energy E for
as-cast Mg–Zr binary alloys is shown in Fig. 8. The lower activation
energy E of damping capacity for No. 1 sample (Mg–0.6Zr) means that temperature as Tam and 373 K (100 °C) in Fig. 1 can be explained by the
smaller energy barrier should be overcome. G–L model or dislocation pinning mechanism [12,13], while the plots of
It should be specially pointed out that the plots of ε –tan φ at two T–tan φ curve at constant strain ε with different vibration frequencies f

Fig. 7. Plots of ln(QT−1 − Qat

−1
) versus ln(ω) for six samples of Mg–Zr binary alloys with mass percentage of Zr from 0.6 to 5.0 (a-f) at different temperatures, respectively.

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in Fig. 2 can be explained by viscoelastic relaxation behaviour [38]
although two plots have the same two-segment characteristics.
4.3. Influence of vibration frequency f on damping mechanism of plots of
T –tan φ
A differential equation for ideal viscoelastic body, named as the
Maxwell unit, was proposed to describe the relationship of stress σ and
strain ε as [38,39]:
dσ dε
τ + σ = τM
dt dt (7)
The involved stress σ and strain ε in Eq. (7) can be expressed as
[38,39]:
σ = σ0 exp(iωt ) (8)
ε = ε0 exp[i (ωt − φ)] (9)
Eq. (7) can be rewritten by inserting σ in Eq. (8) and ε in Eq. (9) as:
d d
τ [σ0 exp(iωt )] + σ0 exp(iωt ) = τM {ε0 exp [i (ωt −φ)]}
dt dt (10)
where σ0 is the maximum stress (Pa), ε0 is the maximum strain (di-
mensionless), i is imaginary unit, φ is the phase lag angle (rad), τ is the
relaxation time (s), M is the elastic modulus (MPa). The internal fric-
tions tan φ or damping capacity Q−1 of ideal viscoelastic body or Max-
well unit [38,39] can be calculated by Eq. (10) as:
1 children's mental health, J. Environ. Psychol. 29 (2009) 203–207.
tan φ ≡ Q−1 =
ωτ (11a)
Based on the relationship between angular velocity ω and vibration
frequency f as ω = 2πf , Eq. (11a) can be rewritten as:
1 spect of research on metallic damping materials, Mater. Rev. 23 (7) (2009) 15–19.
tan φ ≡ Q−1 =
2πfτ (11b)
Based on the expression of ideal viscoelastic body or Maxwell unit
[38,39] in Eq. (11b), the internal frictions tan φ or damping capacity
Q−1 of real viscoelastic body can be modified as [37]:
1 1
tan φ ≡ Q−1 = =
(ωτ )m (2πfτ )m (11c)
where m is the characteristic coefficient for describing deviation from
ideal viscoelastic body (dimensionless). It should be mentioned that m
= 1 for ideal viscoelastic body.
It has been verified in Section 4.2 that the plots of T –tan φ for as-cast
Mg–Zr binary alloys at constant strain ε under different vibration fre-
quencies f in Fig. 2 comply with the viscoelastic relaxation behaviour
[38]. Thus, the relationship between internal frictions tan φ or damping
capacity Q−1 and vibration frequency f in Eq. (11c) can be well applied
to explain the experimental results in Fig. 4 that internal friction tan φ
decreased with an increase of vibration frequency f . Furthermore, the
relationship in Eq. (11c) can be ideally used to explain the experimental
findings that changing vibration frequency f has no obvious effect on
internal friction tan φ or damping capacity Q−1 under the condition of
greater vibration frequency f .
5. Conclusions
According to the experimental results of damping property ex-
pressed by internal friction tan φ of as-cast Mg–Zr binary alloys with Zr
content from 0.6 to 5.0% and related discussion, the main summary
remarks can be obtained as follows:
1) The damping property expressed by internal friction tan φ of pre-
pared as-cast Mg–Zr binary alloys can be effectively promoted by
increasing either heating rate ν or strain ε .
2) Increasing vibration frequency f can effectively decrease the
425
Materials Science & Engineering A 718 (2018) 418–426
damping property of as-cast Mg–Zr binary alloys. However, in-
creasing vibration frequency f has little effect on the plots of in-
ternal friction tan φ against temperature T , i.e., T –tan φ curve, under
the condition of f > 5.0 Hz.
3) The optimal Zr content of the as-cast Mg–Zr binary alloys with
better performance of damping property is recommended to be 0.6
mass % in a range of Zr content from 0.6 to 5.0%.
4) The effect of strain ε on damping property for the as-cast Mg–Zr
binary alloys can be ideally explained by dislocation pinning theory
or the G–L model. Further more, the influence of temperature T on
damping property for the as-cast Mg–Zr binary alloys complies with
the viscoelastic relaxation behaviour.
Acknowledgement
This work is supported by the Beijing Natural Science Foundation
under Grant No. 2182069 and the National Natural Science Foundation
of China under Grant No. 51174186.
Notes
The authors declare no competing financial interest.
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