Scalable manufacturing of ultra-strong magnesium nanocomposites

Magnesium, the lightest structure metal, is suitable for wide range of applications in various industries such as transportation. However, it suffers from moderate mechanical properties such as strength. Strengthening magnesium beyond what conventional strengthening approaches offer is of a significance interest. Incorporation of suitable nanoparticles into magnesium can effectively improve its mechanical properties. However, manufacturing of magnesium with populous dispersed nanoparticles remains as a great challenge. Here we report a novel liquid processing of magnesium nanocomposites with titanium carbide as the nanoscale reinforcement. Nanoparticles are uniformly dispersed in the magnesium, resulting in a significantly improved Vickers hardness of 143.5 ± 11.5HV.