Anelastic and Microplastic Damping of an Mg–Zn–Y–Al Alloy

In this study, the Mg97Zn1Y2–Al alloy was selected as a high damping material, anelastic and microplastic damping were analyzed by studying strain amplitude-dependent damping curves of the alloy. The C1 and C2 values of the Granato–Lücke (G–L) model, the theoretical basis of anelastic damping, can be calculated for each alloy, then, the corresponding numbers of strong and weak pinners are deduced. However, since the occurrence of microplastic damping in a high strain amplitude cannot be explained by the G–L model, a new microplastic damping theory was introduced, by comparing the activation volume of the material dislocation slip, the microplastic damping capacity of the Mg97Zn1Y2–xwt%Al (x = 0.3, 1, 3) alloys at the microplastic stage are compared. The elastic and plastic deformation of the materials could be sensitively reflected by studying the damping behavior of these two stages.