Characterization of AZ31-NbC surface composite fabricated by friction stir processing

Abstract

AZ31D magnesium alloy is widely used in automotive, aircraft, and aerospace applications because of its high strength to weight ratio. However, the softness of the alloy results in higher wear rate and the high activity results in higher corrosion rate. With an aim of reducing the wear rate and corrosion rate of AZ31 alloy, surface composite of AZ31 alloy is fabricated by reinforcing niobium carbide (NbC) by friction stir processing. The microstructure and dispersion of the reinforcements in AZ31-NbC surface composite is analysed by optical microscopy. In addition, the microhardness and tribological characteristics of the developed AZ31-NbC surface composite are investigated. The results demonstrated an increase in microhardness (23.2 %) and the decrease in wear rate (15.6 % for a normal load of 2 kg) in the developed AZ31-NbC surface composite with respect to the base material. The immersion corrosion test was performed to analyse the corrosion rate of the developed AZ31-NbC surface composite in simulated sea water environment (3.5 wt % NaCl solution). The results indicate that the corrosion rate of the developed AZ31-NbC surface composite is higher than that of base material. A comprehensive analysis on the wear and corrosion mechanism of the developed AZ31-NbC surface composite is presented.

Mechanical property analysis and dry sand three-body abrasive wear behaviour of AZ31/ZrO2 composites produced by stir casting

“…As a result of the high strength-to-weight ratio, easy availability, remarkable machinability, and superior castability, magnesium alloys are ideally suited for automotive and aerospace applications 1 , 2 . Magnesium alloys, despite their appealing features have restricted applications because of their low strength, poor ductility, and poor cold workability 3 – 5 .…”

A novel Sr0.99Zr(PO4)2:0.01Eu3+ ceramic glass viable for long term energy storage applications

“…Paper is available on the website: www.idk.org.rs/journal While solid-state synthesis remains popular due to its simplicity, its limitations, such as high temperatures (often exceeding 1200°C) and lengthy reaction times (lasting several days), can lead to large agglomerates [4].…”

Microstructure, hardness and wear behavior of ZrC particle reinforced AZ31 surface composites synthesized via friction stir processing

“…Magnesium and its alloys can be considered as a potential material for automobile, aerospace, biomedical and electronics material owing to its excellent damping capability, machinability, fluidity, corrosion resistance, recyclability etc. The low density of magnesium metal makes it a possible candidate for substitute for replacing conventional metal in automobile industries like steel and aluminum [1][2][3] . However, comparatively low strength of magnesium hinders its usage in many automobile applications.…”

“…Therefore, identifying and developing a processing technique for reducing the grain size of magnesium alloy was the need of the hour making researchers to propose friction stir processing as a possible candidate. Friction stir processing was a thus introduced as a technique to enhance the strength and ductility of magnesium alloys through reducing the grain size of the metal through severe plastic deformation which was then successfully used to for the development of surface and bulk composites 1,2,6,8 .…”