A study of Mg effects on PM Al - Mg alloys

Abstract

This research has been done to study the effects of Magnesium content in PM Al-Mg alloys. The research involved is fabrication of aluminum alloys with various weight percent of Magnesium powder via powder metallurgy routes. The Al-Mg alloy samples were prepared based on 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5 and 3.0 wt% of magnesium powder. The mixture of Al-Mg alloys were done at 3 hours mixing process using a horizontal axis rotating ball mill and stainless steel ball as mixing agitator. The powder metallurgy Al-Mg alloy was compacted at 210 MPa and sintered at 610 °C in nitrogen controlled atmosphere for 6 hours. The microstructure of the sample was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Density and porosity test have done using the Archimedes Principles. Hardness Vickers Test showed that the highest value was 37.1 HVN for the composition of 2.0% Mg.