Characteristics of Magnesium/B₄C Reinforced Composite Fabricated by Stir Casting Method

At present the development of magnesium composites is increasingly being carried out, this is due to the main advantages of magnesium which has the lowest density when compared with other metals so that it can save fuel use when applied as a constituent of an automotive product yet still has great mechanical properties. In this research, magnesium composite is fabricated by mixing magnesium as composite matrix and micro B4C as reinforcement particle with 2, 4, 6, and 8 Vf-% by stir casting method. The magnesium reinforced B4C particles has improved the mechanical properties of the composite. The best mechanical properties of magnesium composite are shown by the addition of 8 Vf-% B4C particles. These values increase up to 73 HRH for the hardness and 64 MPa for the UTS as well as, 0.11 J/mm2 for the impact value. The wear rate also reduced to 0.0023 mm3/m. The mechanical properties of magnesium composite are increased due to the increasing number of B4C particles thatcaused new interfaces which will block dislocation movement and dispersed B4C particles will also act as load restraint elements. Composite characterization was also carried out by using SEM-EDS and XRD test to find out the compounds and phases formed from the fabricated composites-then it was known that the possible compounds formed from the composites produced were MgB2, MgO, B4C, and Mg2B2O5 respectively.