Mg-Ti composites fabricated by a novel one-step high-pressure sintering: The correlation between microstructures and mechanical properties

Abstract Simultaneous sintering of low-melting-point Mg and high-melting-point Ti was achieved by a novel one-step high-pressure solid-state sintering technique. The correlation between the microstructures and the mechanical properties of the high-pressure-sintered Mg-Ti composites is elucidated. The Young's modulus of the sintered Mg-Ti composites is in good agreement with the theoretical value, indicative of a sufficient sintering which is difficult to obtain via conventional sintering techniques. The compressive yield strength of the Mg-Ti composites increases with the contents of Ti. However, the plasticity shows a parabolic trend, where the composites with a bicontinuous microstructure show the lowest plasticity. The low plasticity can be mainly attributed to: i) the inherent deformation incompatibility between soft Mg and hard Ti phases, and ii) the Mg/Ti interfaces which are not sufficiently strong to resist cracks initiation and propagation.