Abstract
Thermal expansion is an intrinsic property of metals and alloys, posing a critical challenge for achieving dimensional stability in lightweight systems where low atomic mass enhances lattice vibrations. Here, we present a strain recovery compensation strategy that achieves three orders of magnitude reduction in thermally induced volume change, enabling zero thermal expansion (ZTE) in a rare-earth magnesium alloy containing 1.2 vol.% Al-stabilized MnCoGe particles. The coefficient of thermal expansion is reduced from 28 × 10⁻⁶ °C⁻¹ to 0.02 × 10⁻⁶ °C⁻¹ over 25–150 °C—the highest thermal stability reported for any alloy. This alloy also retains high compressive strength (424 MPa), ductility (12%), and ultralow density (1.93 g/cm³). The ZTE behavior arises from sustained compressive strain, maintained by reversible martensitic transformation of the embedded particles. Beyond realizing a dimensional stable lightweight alloy, this work establishes a generalizable principle for achieving thermal dimensional stability in metals via recoverable strain.
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All data supporting the findings of this study are included in the manuscript or the Supplementary Information. Source data are provided with this paper, and is available at the cited Figshare repository56. Source data are provided with this paper.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Ying Sun (Beihang University), Kun Lin (University of Science and Technology Beijing) for assistance with the CTE data interpretation; Yu Zhang, Liang Yu, Chunhua Ran, Yuyang Gao, and Sixue Qin (Chongqing University) for their help on characterization and discussion of the microstructure and properties of the sample. It was also getting support from Sinoma Institute of Materials Research (Guang Zhou) Co., Ltd (SIMR). This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2022YFB3709300 and 2021YFB3701000 for B.J.), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 52571125 for S.W., U21A2048 and U2037601 for B.J.), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 2024CDJCGJ-009 and 2024CDJYXTD-002 for B.J.) and National Natural Science Foundation of China Youth Fund (No. 12204254 for Z.D.).
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S.W and Y.H. developed the concept and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. Z.D., J.S., G.W., C.W., S.B., P.B., B.J., and F.P. wrote the final draft of the manuscript. All authors were involved in discussions and evaluation of drafts during the writing process. S.W., G.W., and B.J. directed the research.
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Huang, Y., Wu, S., Dong, Z. et al. A lightweight zero thermal expansion magnesium alloy. Nat Commun (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-71165-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-71165-w
