Preparation of Magnesium Alloy Powder for Powder Metallurgy

Abstract

With the ongoing trend in the weight savings of transportation equipment, the application of lightweight materials is gradually increasing. The magnesium alloys are the lightest metallic materials for practical use, and are regarded as environmentally-friendly, biocompatibility materials. Furthermore, they may exhibit good damping capacity and superelasticity. In the powder metallurgy, the sintering progress of the magnesium alloy powder would be inhibited because an oxide film is easily formed on the surface of its powder due to the high chemical reactivity of this metal. In contrast, the powder coated with a suitable oxide film would be resistant to oxidation and combustion because it is shielded from air. An industrial sintering process can probably be used for magnesium alloys when the dense and thin oxide film on the powder surface balances the competition for inactivating and sintering.