Tribological & Mechanical Behaviour of Boron Carbide Reinforced Magnesium Composites

Magnesium is the lightest metal used as the source for constructional alloys. Today Magnesium based metal matrix composites are widely used in aerospace, structural, oceanic and automobile applications for its light weight, low density(two thirds that of aluminium), good high temperature mechanical properties and good to excellent corrosion resistance. The project elaborately determines the effect of boron carbide (B4C) reinforced magnesium metal matrix composite for mechanical and tribological behavior have been investigated. Fabrication of the Mg-MMC was done by the squeeze casting process using the bottom pouring stir casting furnace. Mechanical properties such as tensile strength and hardness of the composites were analyzed. The dry sliding wear behavior of the pure Mg and the composites was evaluated in the pin-on-disk tribo-meter using SAE52100 bearing steel disk at room temperature. Improvement in the mechanical property was found in B4C reinforced Mg-MMC as compared with pure Mg. A significant fact was that, addition of B4C enhanced the wear resistance of Mg-MMC, revealing the delamination wear mechanism is dominant from other wear mechanisms.