Damping and Mechanical Properties of (Graphite + 9Al₂O₃·2B₂O₃)/Mg Metal Matrix Composites

Mg alloys have potential to use automotive parts because of their weight and castability. High temperature strength and damping capacity is important to the automotive power train parts. Mg alloy has lower creep and thermal fatique strength but has better damping capacity than Al alloy. It is known that short fiber reinforced Mg metal matrix composites(MMC) exhibits superior high temperature strength and graphite reinforced Mg MMC shows excellent damping capacity. Therefore, in this study, the effect of graphite particles(15-25%) and alborex (9Al₂O₃ּ2B₂O₃) whiskers(5-15%) on the damping behavior and mechanical properties of Mg MMC was studied. Graphite particles and alborex whiskers were chosen to increase damping capacity and high temperature strength, respectively. The Mg MMC was fabricated by squeeze casting and the total quantity of reinforcements(graphite + alborex) was maintained to 30 volume percent. The damping capacity of the metal matrix composites was increased and the flexural strength and hardness were decreased with increasing the volume fraction of graphite particles, that is, reducing the volume fraction of alborex whiskers.