Magnesium powder in micron scale and various volume fractions of SiC particles with an average diameter of 50 nm were co-milled by a high energy planetary ball mill for up to 25 h to produce Mg-SiC nanocomposite powders. The milled Mg-SiC nanocomposite powders were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and laser particle size analysis (PSA) to study morphological evolutions. Furthermore, XRD, TEM, EDAX and SEM analyses were performed to investigate the microstructure of the magnesium matrix and distribution of SiC-reinforcement. It was shown that with addition of and increase in SiC nanoparticle content, finer particles with narrower size distribution are obtained after mechanical milling. The morphology of these particles also became more equiaxed at shorter milling times. The microstructural observation revealed that the milling process ensured uniform distribution of SiC nanoparticles in the magnesium matrix even with a high volume fraction, up to 10 vol%.
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