Enhancement of compressive strength and failure strain in AZ31 magnesium alloy

New bimetal AZ31/AA5052 macrocomposite containing millimeter-scale aluminium alloy core reinforcement was fabricated using solidification processing followed by hot coextrusion. Microstructural characterization revealed decreased intermetallic particle spacing, Mg texture change and significant interfacial interdiffusion of Mg and Al into each other. Compressive testing revealed that presence of AA5052 core increased compressive yield strength (0.2% CYS) (+51%), ultimate compressive strength (UCS) (+4%), average failure strain (+18%) and work of fracture (WOF) (+50%) of AZ31. The effect of presence of mm-scale AA5052 core on the compressive properties of the bimetal macrocomposite is investigated in this paper.