Enhanced Hardness and Functionality for Magnesium Fabricated by Combination of Mechanical Miling/Mechanical Alloying and Spark Plasma Sintering

Abstract

This review paper presents a brief background of a concept for both alloy design and process design in order to enhance properties of pure magnesium applying a combination of mechanical milling (MM) or mechanical alloying (MA) and spark plasma sintering (SPS) process. Powder processing, such as MM, is one of an effective technique for the enhanced properties of the powders. Especially, adding stearic acid as a process control agent (PCA), is significantly effective for not only reducing cold weld, but also strengthening the magnesium matrix during the MM process. MA process is also a powerful technique for synthesising of composite powders. SPS is the advanced consolidation technique for the powders synthesised by the MM/MA processes with relatively shorter sintering time and lower sintering temperature. The properties for two types of developed magnesium materials fabricated by the MM/MA-SPS process with PCA or magnetic powder will be introduced.