Investigation of Microstructural and Mechanical Properties of Magnesium Matrix Hybrid Composite

Abstract

Magnesium has extensive applications in aerospace, automotive, medical and other lightweight applications due to the fact that magnesium is the lightest structural metal with density 1.74 g/cc. However, magnesium has low mechanical strength, low hardness, poor resistance to corrosion and wear. To improve the poor properties of magnesium alloy, magnesium matrix composite has been synthesised by powder metallurgy technique. CNT and B4C reinforced Mg AZ91 hybrid composites with six different compositions (Pure Mg, Mg+2%B4C, Mg+0.5%CNT+1.5%B4C, Mg+1%CNT+1%B4C, Mg+1.5%CNT+0.5%B4C, Mg+2%CNT) were produced. The microstructural and mechanical properties of CNT and B4C reinforced Mg AZ91 hybrid composite has been investigated. It was observed that the maximum compressive strength (Ultimate compressive stress 196.25 MPa) was obtained for composition (i.e. Mg+1.5%CNT+0.5%B4C). The maximum hardness of 103.2 VHN was obtained for composition (i.e. Mg+2%B4C) as compared to Mg alloy AZ91 having 92.3 VHN.