Effect of hot extrusion on microstructures and mechanical properties of SiC nanoparticles reinforced magnesium matrix composite

Particulate reinforced magnesium matrix nanocomposite prepared with semisolid stirring assisted ultrasonic vibration was subjected to extrusion at 350 °C with an extrusion ratio of 12:1. Extrusion of the SiCp/AZ91 nanocomposite induced large scale dynamic recrystallization resulting in a fine matrix microstructure. There were two kinds of zones in the extruded nanocomposite: SiC nanoparticle bands parallel to the extrusion direction and refined-grain zones between the SiC nanoparticle bands. In the SiC nanoparticle bands, there were SiC nanoparticles along the boundaries of refined grains. The distribution of SiC nanoparticles was uniform although some agglomerates of SiC nanoparticles still existed in the SiC nanoparticle bands. The ultimate tensile strength, yield strength and elongation to fracture of the SiCp/AZ91 nanocomposite were simultaneously improved by extrusion. Results from the extruded SiCp/AZ91 nanocomposite tensile testing at different temperatures (75, 125, 175 and 225 °C) revealed an increase of the tensile strength and ductility values compared with the unreinforced and extruded AZ91 alloy.     

SiC颗粒增强AZ91基复合材料拉伸性能研究

针对风力发电机组摩擦材料对性能的要求,在不同的温度下,成功制备出了SiC颗粒增强的AZ91镁合金基复合材料,并且对其拉伸性能进行研究.结果表明,SiCp/AZ91复合材料的抗拉强度高于AZ91基体镁合金;在同样的烧结温度下,直径较小的SiC颗粒对复合材料的抗拉强度提高幅度较大.     

Processing, microstructure and mechanical properties of magnesium matrix nanocomposites fabricated by semisolid stirring assisted ultrasonic vibration

Particulate reinforced magnesium matrix nanocomposites were fabricated by semisolid stirring assisted ultrasonic vibration. Compared with the as-cast AZ91 alloy, the grain size of matrix alloy in the SiCp/AZ91 nanocomposite stirring for 5 min was significantly decreased due to the addition of SiC nanoparticles. SiC nanoparticles within the grains exhibited homogeneous distribution although some SiC clusters still existed along the grain boundaries in the SiCp/AZ91 nanocomposite stirring for 5 min. With increasing the stirring time, agglomerates of SiC nanoparticles located along the grain boundaries increased. The ultimate tensile strength, yield strength and elongation to fracture of the SiCp/AZ91 nanocomposite stirring for 5 min were simultaneously improved compared with the as-cast AZ91 alloy. However, the ultimate tensile strength and elongation to fracture of the SiCp/AZ91 nanocomposite decreased with increasing the stirring time.     

反复塑性变形对SiC_p/AZ31镁基复合材料组织和性能的影响

采用反复塑性变形(RPW)技术,结合挤压工艺制备出SiC颗粒增强AZ31镁基复合材料,研究了循环次数(RPW次数)对SiC_p/AZ31镁基复合材料显微组织和性能的影响.结果表明,反复塑性变形具有明显的AZ31基体晶粒细化、SiC_p细化和分散作用,能显著提高SiC_p/AZ31复合材料的抗拉强度和硬度,并改善其塑性.在SiC_p的体积分数为4%时,经RPW为300次的热挤压后,AZ31基体晶粒粒径达到最小值20 μm,SiC_p被粉碎成3 μm以下的微粒,且弥散分布于合金基体中,复合材料的室温抗拉强度和硬度(HV)达到或接近最大值,分别为359 MPa和107.     

Development of new magnesium based alloys and their nanocomposites

In the present study, 1 and 2 wt.% of aluminum were successfully incorporated into magnesium based AZ31 alloy to develop new AZ41 and AZ51 alloys using the technique of disintegrated melt deposition. AZ41-Al₂O₃ and AZ51-Al₂O₃ nanocomposites were also successfully synthesized through the simultaneous addition of aluminum (1 and 2 wt.%, respectively) and 1.5 vol.% nano-sized alumina into AZ31 magnesium following same route. Alloy and composite samples were then subsequently hot extruded at 400 °C and characterized. Microstructural characterization studies revealed equiaxed grain structure, reasonably uniform distribution of particulate and intermetallics in the matrix and minimal porosity. Physical properties characterization revealed that addition of both aluminum and nano-sized alumina reduced the coefficient of thermal expansion of monolithic AZ31. The presence of both Al and nano-sized Al₂O₃ particles also assisted in improving overall mechanical properties including microhardness, engineering and specific tensile strengths, ductility and work of fracture. The results suggest that these alloys and nanocomposites have significant potential in diverse engineering applications when compared to magnesium AZ31 alloy.     

Microstructures and mechanical properties of the in situ TiB-Ti metal-matrix composites synthesized by spark plasma sintering process

In situ synthesized TiB reinforced titanium matrix composites have been synthesized by spark plasma sintering (SPS) process at 950-1250 °C, using mixtures of 15 wt% TiB₂ and 85 wt% Ti powders. The effects of the sintering temperature on densification behavior and mechanical properties of the TiB-Ti composites were investigated. The results indicated that with rising sintering temperatures, relative densities of the composites increase obviously, while the in situ TiB whiskers grow rapidly. As a result, bending strength of the TiB-Ti composites increases slowly at the combined actions of the factors referred above. Fracture toughness of the composites is improved remarkably due to the large volume fraction of Ti matrix, the crack deflection, pull-out and the micro-fracture of the needle-shaped TiB grains. The results also suggested that TiB-Ti composite sintered at 1250 °C by SPS process exhibits the highest relative density of 99.6% along with bending strength of 1161 MPa and fracture toughness of 13.5 MPa m^1/2.     

Influence of initial texture on formability of AZ31B magnesium alloy sheets at different temperatures

Repeated unidirectional bending (RUB) process was carried out to improve the texture of AZ31B magnesium alloy sheets. Influence of initial texture on formability of AZ31B magnesium alloy sheets at different temperatures was investigated. Compared with the as-received sheets, the limiting drawing ratio of the RUB processed sheets increased to 1.3 at room temperature, 1.5 at 50 °C and 1.7 at 100 °C, respectively. The improvement of the press formability at lower temperatures can be attributed to the texture modification, which led to a smaller Lankford value and a larger strain hardening exponent. However, the press formability of the sheet with a weakened basal texture has no advantage at higher temperature. This is due to much smaller r-value that results in severe thinning in thickness direction during the stamping process which is unfavorable to forming. Anyhow it is likely that the texture control has more effect on the press formability at lower temperature.     

Formability of AZ31 magnesium alloy sheets at warm working conditions

Fine-grained AZ31 magnesium alloy sheets were prepared through hot-rolling process. To investigate the mechanical properties of the sheets, uniaxial tensile tests were conducted at various temperatures and strain rates. The formability of AZ31 alloy sheets at warm working conditions was evaluated by limit drawing ratio (LDR) tests and limit dome height (LDH) tests at temperatures from 50 to 240 °C. It is demonstrated that LDR increases remarkably with temperatures, whilst LDH does not seem to increase much with temperatures. The maximum LDR reaches 2.65 at a punch speed of 30mm/min at 200 °C, whereas the maximum LDH is only 10.8 mm, showing good deep drawability and poor stretchability of AZ31 alloy sheets. In addition, punch speeds and punch temperatures were found to have significant effects on the deep drawability of AZ31 magnesium alloy sheets.     

Effect of Hot Extrusion on Microstructures and Properties of TiB2/AZ31 Magnesium Based Composites

采用原位合成-半固态搅拌铸造法制备了TiB2/AZ31镁基复合材料,研究了热挤压对TiB2/AZ31镁基复合材料组织和力学性能的影响。结果表明：热挤压不仅能显著细化合金组织,而且能有效改善TiB2颗粒分布的均匀性。与铸态AZ31镁合金相比,铸态TiB2/AZ31镁基复合材料的硬度、抗拉强度都有一定程度的提高。经过热挤压后,TiB2/AZ31镁基复合材料的硬度和抗拉强度分别比基体合金提高了126.2%和98.8%,达到950 MPa和322 MPa。磨损表面形貌显示,TiB2颗粒的引入以及对TiB2/AZ31镁基复合材料进行热挤压,都可有效地提高材料的耐磨性。     

Ti-coated SiC particle reinforced sintered Fe-Cu-Sn alloy

Ti-coated SiC particles were developed to improve the wear resistance of Fe-Cu-Sn alloy metal matrices designed for diamond tools. The phase structure of the Ti-coated SiC particles was investigated by X-ray diffraction. Ti coating on SiC was composed of Ti₅Si₃, TiC, and Ti. Excellent interfacial bonding between SiC and the matrix was realized. The SiC/iron alloy composites, prepared by hot pressing at 820 °C, were studied by wear and bending strength tests, and scanning electron microscope. For the composites reinforced by uncoated SiC particles, the wear resistance was improved, but the bending strength decreased. The composites with Ti-coated SiC particles outperformed the composites with uncoated SiC particles in both wear resistance and bending strength tests.     

Microstructure and mechanical properties of Mg-Al-Mn-Ca alloy sheet produced by twin roll casting and sequential warm rolling

Microstructural evolution and mechanical properties of twin roll cast (TRC) Mg-3.3 wt.%Al-0.8 wt.%Mn-0.2 wt.%Ca (AM31 + 0.2Ca) alloy strip during warm rolling and subsequent annealing were investigated in this paper. The as-TRC alloy strip shows columnar dendrites in surface and equiaxed dendrites in center regions, as well as finely dispersed primary Al₈Mn₅ particles on interdendritic boundaries which result in the beneficial effect on microstructural refinement of strip casting. The warm rolled sheets show intensively deformed band or shear band structures, as well as finely and homogeneously dispersed Al-Mn particles. No evident dynamic recrystallization (DRX) takes place during warm rolling process, which is more likely attributed to the finely dispersed particle and high solid solution of Al and Mn atoms in α-Mg matrix. After annealing at 350 °C for 1 h, the warm rolled TRC sheets show fine equiaxed grains around 7.8 μm in average size. It has been shown that the present TRC alloy sheet has superior tensile strength and comparative elongation compared to commercial ingot cast (IC) one, suggesting the possibility of the development of wrought magnesium alloy sheets by twin roll strip casting processing. The microstructural evolution during warm rolling and subsequent annealing as well as the resulting tensile properties were analyzed and discussed.     

TiC/AZ91D composites fabricated by in situ reactive infiltration process and its tensile deformation

1 Introduction Relative to aluminum matrix composites, magnesium-matrix composites are receiving interests increasingly in recent years due to their low densities and high specific properties. They are potentially attractive for the applications in aeros…     

Scratch-resistant anticorrosion sol-gel coating for the protection of AZ31 magnesium alloy via a low temperature sol-gel route

A novel hybrid sol-gel/polyaniline coating has been developed for application onto an AZ31 magnesium alloy for corrosion protection. Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy in 3.5 wt% NaCl and diluted Harrison’s solutions, along with salt spray tests showed that the coating possesses excellent corrosion resistance. The hybrid coating was modified by doping with silica nanoparticles (for scratch resistance) and cured at a low temperature of 75 °C. Whilst conventional sol-gel methods tend to limit the coating thickness values up to 10 μm, the new hybrid sol-gel/polyaniline system presented here allows thick coatings to be deposited, in this case, around 50-60 μm.     

SiCp/AZ31镁基纳米复合材料的高能超声制备及性能

文章采用自行设计的高能超声装置制备SiCp/AZ31镁基纳米复合材料,并对制备的复合材料进行显微组织观察和力学性能测试。实验结果表明,高能超声波能使纳米SiCp在镁合金熔体中均匀分散,复合材料抗拉强度和屈服强度都比基体有较大提高,并能保持较高的延伸率。另外,对高能超声波制备金属基复合材料的分散机理,以及SiCp增强镁基纳米复合材料的增强机制,进行了初步探讨。     

SiC颗粒对镁基复合材料摩擦磨损性能的影响

采用粉末冶金法制备了AZ91镁合金和SiC颗粒增强的镁基复合材料,SiC的粒度分别为18μm和8μm,经热压烧结后制得试样.通过扫描电子显微镜观察分析基体和增强体的微观组织形貌,并将制备出的材料分别放入MMW-1型摩擦磨损试验机上,研究SiC的粒度对镁基复合材料摩擦磨损性能的影响.实验结果表明,SiC颗粒的加入能有效减小β-Mg17Al12网孔的大小;加入两种SiC颗粒的复合材料硬度比基体合金的分别提高6.83％和27.03％;颗粒增强复合材料的摩擦系数相对于镁合金基体有所提高,分别提高2.33％和9.62％.     

稀土钐对AZ61合金组织和性能的影响

采用XRD、OM和SEM等手段研究了稀土钐(0~2.0wt%)对AZ61合金显微组织和力学性能的影响。结果表明,稀土Sm可以显著提高时效态合金从室温至175℃区间的抗拉强度和屈服强度。在AZ61合金中加入0.5wt%~2.0wt%的Sm后,合金的显微组织得到细化,Sm优先与A1形成高熔点Al2Sm弥散相。在研究范围内,加入1.5wt%Sm的合金从组织到各项力学性能最优。     

Effect of SPS process sintering on the microstructure and mechanical properties of nanocrystalline TiC for tools application

The most important spark plasma sintering (SPS) parameters (Temperature, holding time and pressure), have been reviewed to assess their effect on the densification, grain growth kinetics and mechanical properties of nanocrystalline TiC synthesized by mechanical alloying. Experiments were performed in the 1350-1800 °C temperature range with holding time from 1 to 10 min under various pressure values of 50, 80 and 100 MPa. The results of experiments revealed that the mechanical properties of the material were improved with raising the sintering temperature and extending the sintering time. However, a hardness decrease was observed as a result of abnormal grain growth under higher sintering temperatures. The optimized process parameters for SPS process are identified as a sintering temperature of 1650 °C, a pressure 100 MPa and a sintering time of 5 min. The resulting mechanical properties are: a relative density of 97.9%, a micro-hardness of 2570 Hv, a nano-hardness of 28 GPa, a fracture toughness of 4.9 MPa·m^1/2 and a compressive strength of about 2210 MPa.     

Influence of reinforcement proportion and matrix composition on pitting corrosion behaviour of cast aluminium matrix composites (A3xx.x/SiCp)

The influence of silicon carbide (SiCp) proportion and matrix composition on four aluminium metal matrix composites (A360/SiC/10p, A360/SiC/20p, A380/SiC/10p, A380/SiC/20p) immersed in 1-3.5 wt% NaCl at 22 °C was investigated by potentiodynamic polarization. The kinetics of the corrosion process was studied on the basis of gravimetric measurements. The nature of corrosion products was analysed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and low angle X-ray diffraction (XRD). The corrosion damage in Al/SiCp composites was caused by pitting attack and by nucleation and growth of Al₂O₃ · 3H₂O on the material surface. The main attack nucleation sites were the interface region between the matrix and the reinforcement particles. The corrosion process was influenced more by the concentration of alloy elements in the matrix than by the proportion of SiCp reinforcement and saline concentration.     

Effect of Vanadium Nitride (VN) Particles on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Extruded AZ31 Mg Alloy

The effect of vanadium nitride (VN) particles additives on microstructure and mechanical properties of the extruded AZ31 Mg alloy was systematically investigated. The experimental results revealed that the addition of 0.5 wt% VN decreased the average grain size of AZ31 Mg alloy from 6.4 to 4.9 µm. With the increase in VN content, the refining effect would weaken because excessive VN particles would negatively affect the dynamic recrystallization process of the alloys. The scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive spectroscopy indicated that AlN, VN and Al-V-N particles with different morphologies were distributed in the streamline along the extrusion direction during the extrusion process. The mechanical properties of AZ31 Mg alloy vary with the addition of VN. The extruded AZ31 + 0.5 wt% VN Mg alloy possesses an excellent combination of high strength and ductility. The yield strength and ultimate tensile strength of the extruded AZ31 + 0.5 wt% VN Mg alloy were increased without sacrificing ductility. This is mainly due to the grain refinement caused by double-heterogeneous nucleation particles. With a further increase in VN content, the presence of excessive VN particles increases the stress concentration, and the initiation source of microcracks in the alloy during alloy deformation makes the cracks more easily propagated and results in a decrease in the ductility of the extruded alloy.     

Hot rolling behaviour of stir-cast Al 6061 and Al 6082 alloys - SiC fine particulates reinforced composites

Rolling of wrought aluminium matrix composites with hard phase-reinforcements such as SiC, is interesting to produce sheets for engineering constructions due to their light weight combined with good strength and wear resistance. In this work, the hot rolling behaviour is studied for stir-cast composites with matrix of Al 6061 and Al 6082 alloys and fine SiCp particulates with size of 15 μm and 8 μm and volume fraction up to 30%. For composite casting, optimum casting procedures and materials pre-treatment has been applied for successful insertion of particles into the melt, better particles/matrix wetting and particles distribution, minimized SiC/Al reaction. From thermomechanical simulation, step rolling is defined to be suitable at a strain rate of 1 s⁻¹ rate for each step, using intermediate heat treatment at 450 °C for a period of 10 s to 1 h. Generally, the quality of rolled product was improved with improving casting quality. Successive hot rolling resulted in decreasing void and the agglomeration clusters and hence enhanced mechanical properties are achieved. The flow behaviour under rolling of Al-particulate metal matrix composites, PMMCs, is analysed and the product is characterised for its mechanical properties.