1. Nacre-inspired lightweight and high-strength AZ91D/Mg2B2O5w composites prepared by ice templating and pressureless infiltration.
- Author
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Mao, Hai-Rong, Shen, Ping, Liu, Yu-Hua, Zhao, Yu-Guang, and Jiang, Qi-Chuan
- Subjects
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WETTING , *MICROSTRUCTURE , *COMPOSITE materials , *ELASTIC modulus , *COMPRESSIVE strength , *FRACTURE toughness (Materials science) , *FRACTURE mechanics - Abstract
We developed a facile and low-cost approach to prepare lightweight and high-strength magnesium-matrix composites with a nacre-inspired laminated structure. First, lamellar Mg2B2O5 whisker (Mg2B2O5w) scaffolds with initial solid loadings of 10, 15 and 20 vol% were prepared by ice templating. The wettability between a molten AZ91D alloy and the Mg2B2O5w scaffold was greatly improved by the incorporation of nano-SiO2 sol in the aqueous slurry, making the preparation of nacre-mimetic AZ91D/Mg2B2O5w composite by way of pressureless infiltration feasible. The SiO2 content in the Mg2B2O5w scaffold has a significant effect on the processing and the microstructure and properties of the composites. The optimum SiO2 content was about 6-8 wt% of the total ceramic loading. A lower SiO2 content resulted in incomplete infiltration, while a higher content led to the formation of a large quantity of Mg2Si in the composite. The flexural strength of the composites seemed independent of the initial ceramic loading (10-20 vol%), whereas the compressive strength and elastic modulus increased considerably and the crack-growth fracture toughness decreased with increasing ceramic content. The mechanism for such variations was addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2018
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