Local structures around Zn and Y in the melt-quenched Mg97Zn1Y2 ribbon

XAFS measurements of the Zn and Y K-edges are carried out as well as X-ray diffraction for the as-quenched and annealed Mg97Zn1Y2 melt-quenched ribbons. Analyses of the EXAFS spectra χ(k) show that the amount of dissolved Zn and Y in hcp-Mg is very small. And the local structure around Zn is similar to that of Zn in the CsCl-type YZn compound and that for Y in a mixture of YZn and CsCl-type MgY. The annealing at 600 deg. C for 30 min does not affect significantly EXAFS spectra and X-ray diagrams. The strong bonding between Y and Zn and the tendency to form YZn clusters may be responsible for the high yield strength of Mg97Zn1Y2