Abstract
Magnesium alloys are attractive for the production of lightweight parts in modern automobile and aerospace industries due to their advanced properties. Their mechanical properties are usually enhanced by the incorporation with reinforcement particles. In the current study, reinforced AZ31 magnesium alloy was fabricated through the addition of bulk Al and the incorporation of SiC nanoparticles using a stir casting process to obtain AZ31-SiC nanocomposites. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) investigations revealed the formation of Mg17Al12 lamellar intermetallic structures and SiC clusters in the nanocomposites. Energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) detected the uniform distribution of SiC nanoparticles in the AZ31-SiC nanocomposites. Enhancements in hardness and yield strength (YS) were detected in the fabricated nanocomposites. This behavior was referred to a joint strengthening mechanisms which showed matrix-reinforcement coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) and elastic modulus mismatches, Orowan strengthening, and load transfer mechanism. The mechanical properties and wear resistance were gradually increased with an increase in SiC content in the nanocomposite. The maximum values were obtained from nanocomposites containing 1 wt% of SiC (AZ31-1SiC). AZ31-1SiC nanocomposite YS and hardness were improved by 27% and 30%, respectively, compared to AZ31 alloy. This nanocomposite also exhibited the highest wear resistance; its wear mass loss and depth of the worn surface decreased by 26% and 15%, respectively, compared to AZ31 alloy.
Highlights
Magnesium and its alloys are attractive to modern industries, mostly due to their low density compared with traditional structural metals, such as aluminum and steel
The wear properties of magnesium metal matrix composites (MMCs) reinforced with SiC particles were reported by Pessato et al [19]; the authors reported a higher wear resistance obtained for an AZ91D/SiC composite
It can be seen that the unreinforced AZ31 magnesium alloy microstructure contains a primary Mg phase and traces known to be a Mg17Al12 phase, which is shown as the white areas in Figures 4a and 5a
Summary
Magnesium and its alloys are attractive to modern industries, mostly due to their low density compared with traditional structural metals, such as aluminum and steel. Light-weight materials reinforced using ceramic particles, such as SiC, Al2O3, TiB2, carbon nanotubes (CNT), and others, are used to produce MMCs [8,9,10,11,12,13]. Among these particles, SiC is the most applicable reinforcement for aluminum and magnesium alloys due to its high strength and hardness, low cost, and good compatibility with the metallic matrix. The wear properties of magnesium MMCs reinforced with SiC particles were reported by Pessato et al [19]; the authors reported a higher wear resistance obtained for an AZ91D/SiC composite
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