Investigation into Physical, Microstructural and Mechanical Behaviour of Titanium dioxide Nanoparticulate Reinforced Magnesium Composite

ABSTRACT

In the present work, monolithic pure magnesium (Mg) and magnesium with 1.5, 2.5 & 5.0 wt. % of titanium dioxide (TiO₂) nanoparticulate composites were synthesised using powder metallurgy technique followed by two-stage hybrid microwave sintering and hot extrusion at 350°C with an extrusion ratio of 16:1. Mass density, porosity, microstructure, microhardness and compressive strength of the composite were critically investigated as per ASTM standards. Microstructural characterisation reveals the quantitative elements such as Mg, Ti and O, its composition, refined grain size of matrix, grain boundary and uniform distribution of TiO₂ nanoparticles in the magnesium matrix. Mass density and microhardness were observed to increase steadily with increase in addition of TiO₂ nanoparticles. Further, maximum compressive strength was obtained for Mg5TiO₂ composite. Harder and fine grain TiO₂ nanoparticulate was responsible for appreciable mechanical behaviour of composite. Refined magnesium grains also contributed appreciably for significant mechanical behaviour through the nucleation effect.

KEYWORDS:

• Magnesium
• powder metallurgy
• microwave sintering
• microstructure
• microhardness
• compressive strength

Acknowledgments

The Authors would like to express their sincere thanks for providing the characterisation facilities under the aegis of INUP at the Centre for Nano Science and Engineering (CeNSE), funded by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Govt. of India, and located at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.