Grain coarsening of magnesium alloys by beryllium

A trace of beryllium can lead to dramatic grain coarsening in Mg-Al alloys at normal cooling rates. It is, however, unclear whether this effect applies to aluminium-free magnesium alloys or not. This work shows that a trace of beryllium also causes considerable grain coarsening in Mg-Zn, Mg-Ca, Mg-Ce and Mg-Nd alloys and hinders grain refinement of magnesium alloys by zirconium as well. (C) 2004 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.