Silicon Carbide Dispersion Strengthening by Mechanical Alloying Method in Magnesium

Abstract

In order to improve the mechanical properties of magnesium alloys, silicon-carbide dispersion-strengthened magnesium (SiC_p/ Mg), in which SiC particles (SiC_p) were milled with pure Mg by an attritor ball mill and used as reinforcement, was produced by hot pressing. Silicon-carbide dispersion strengthening by the mechanical alloying (MA) method in magnesium was investigated. The experimental results are summarized as follows. By raising the milling force of the ball mill in which the pAl₂O₃/ Mg MA powder of the previous report was made, the density of SiC_p/ Mg was made higher than that of the pAl₂O₃/ Mg of the previous report. The SiC_p/ Mg was about 2/3 times as light as the practical aluminum alloys. The hardness of the SiC_p/ Mg was about 1.5 times as high as that of the pAl₂O₃/ Mg and exceeded that of AZ91D, which excels at the mechanical properties in the practical Mg alloys. The highest value was 95HV. The bending strength of the SiC_p/ Mg was better than that of the pAl₂O₃/ Mg. From the analytical results of XRD and SEM-EDAX on the SiC_p/ Mg, it is thought that SiC_p is almost uniformly finely dispersed in Mg and that the Mg grain becomes superfine.