Processing of B4C Particulate-reinforced Magnesium-matrix Composites by Metal-assisted Melt Infiltration Technique

In fabricating magnesium-matrix composites, an easy and cost-effective route is to infiltrate the ceramic preform with molten Mg without any external pressure. However, a rather well wettability of molten Mg with ceramic reinforcement is needed for this process. In order to improve the wettability of the metal melt with ceramic preform during fabricating composites by metal melt infiltration, a simple and viable method has been proposed in this paper where a small amount of metal powder with higher melting point is added to the ceramic preform such that the surface tension of the Mg melt and the liquid–solid interfacial tension could be reduced. By using this method, boron carbide particulate-reinforced magnesium-matrix composites (B4C/Mg) have been successfully fabricated where Ti powder immiscible with magnesium melt was introduced into B4C preform as infiltration inducer. The infiltration ability of molten Mg to the ceramic preform was further studied in association with the processing conditions and the mechanism involved in this process was also analyzed.