Effect of Sintering Conditions on Porous Pure Magnesium Fabricated by Powder Metallurgy

Abstract

Pure magnesium powders added 0.50 g of stearic acid as process control agent (PCA) were mechanically milled (MMed) 24 hours using a vibration ball mill. MMed powders were consolidated into bulk materials by spark plasma sintering (SPS). Changes in hardness, solid-state reactions, bulk density and thickness of the SPS materials have been examined by hardness measurements, an X-ray diffraction, measurements of weight, diameter, height and vernier caliper, respectively. The Vickers hardness of the SPS material decreased with increasing sintering temperature. A minimum hardness value of the SPS material was 19 HV. No effect of sintering pressure on thickness of the SPS materials was observed. Formation of MgH₂ by solid-state reaction during the SPS process was observed for the SPS materials. The sintering temperature contributed to the expansion of the SPS materials than the sintering pressure.