Microstructures and mechanical properties of ultrafine-grained Ti/AZ31 magnesium matrix composite prepared by powder metallurgy

The microstructure of ultrafine grain for magnesium alloys can result in drastic enhancement in their room temperature strength, but the issue of low strength at elevated temperature becomes more serious as well due to grain boundary slide. Here ultrafine-grained Ti/AZ31 magnesium matrix composites with high strength at both room and elevated temperature were prepared by vacuum hot pressing and subsequent hot extrusion. The microstructure of the composite samples before and after consolidation processing was characterized, and the mechanical properties of the as-consolidated bulk samples were measured at room and elevated temperatures. The results indicate that after extrusion ultrafine-grained magnesium alloys were obtained and Ti particulates with particulate size of ～310?nm disperse in Mg matrix. The magnesium grain of AZ31-15at.%Ti grows from 66?nm to 800?nm. Meanwhile, the relative densities of Ti/AZ31 composites are higher than 99%. The yield strength (YS) of extruded AZ31-15at.%Ti composite at room temperature is 341?MPa, being 2.4 times higher than original AZ31 alloy. Theoretical estimation shows that remarkably enhanced room-temperature mechanical strength attributes to grain boundary strengthening with the contribution ratio of 74%. In addition, the peak stress of extruded AZ31-15at.%Ti composite at 573?K is 82?MPa and ultrafine Ti dispersions are responsible for the enhanced strength.