The effects of boron additions on the microstructure, hardness and tensile properties of in situ Al-15%Mg2Si composite

In this work the influences of Boron (B) content on the microstructure, hardness and mechanical properties of Al-15%Mg2Si composite were investigated. The results showed that with the increase of B content, the average size of primary Mg2Si particles decreased from similar to 23 to similar to 5 mu m and the volume fraction of them decreased too, but the amount of alpha phase increased. It was found that with the addition of 0.3%B, the ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and elongation values reached from 252 to 273 MPa and 2.2% to 3.7%, respectively. It was revealed from hardness tests that B decreases the hardness values of the composite. Also, a small amount of Boride compounds formed as a result of the addition of B, which were the main reason of the decreasing of tensile properties at samples with high B. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.