Effect of strain rate and ball milling of reinforcement on the compressive response of magnesium composites

Effect of strain rate change and reinforcement ball milling on the compressive response of Mg composites is investigated in this work. Quasi-static response was determined using a servo hydraulic MTS machine while dynamic response was assessed by Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar. The presence of either as-received or ball milled Al particles significantly assisted in improving compressive response of Mg in both regimes, compared to monolithic Mg. In the quasi-static regime, the Mg/1.626Al composite containing ball milled Al particles exhibits significantly higher compressive yield strength, ultimate compressive strength and work of fracture of (+76, +87% and +58%) compared to monolithic Mg. However, with a fixed amount of Al, composites containing ball milled particles show a higher strength compared to composites containing as-received particles. Results also revealed that the tremendous increase in strain rate led to an increase in flow stress of all synthesized material while the failure strain was marginally compromised.