Microstructural and Mechanical Properties of AZ31B/Graphene Nanocomposite Produced by Stir Casting

Abstract

In the current scenario, the development of high strength and low weight material is the demand of the aerospace defence organizations. Magnesium alloy based composite has low density, good mechanical and physical properties. In this study, magnesium alloy AZ31B is used as reinforcement material and graphene nanoparticle is used as reinforcement material. Stir casting technique is used for the development of composite material. Three weight percentages i.e. 0.4%, 0.8% and 1.2% are used for the casting. The microstructural analysis is performed to validate the presence of graphene particles in the developed composite. Further mechanical properties such as tensile strength, hardness and toughness are evaluated. Experimental results confirm that GNPs particles are uniformly distributed into the matrix material. It was observed that due to the reinforcement of GNPs particles tensile strength of the material is improved by 31.17%, hardness is improved about 46.9%. However, the peak value of toughness is observed 12.6 Jule/cm2 in the matrix material, it decreases by increasing the wt% of reinforcement particle and lowest value of toughness of 6.82 Jule/cm2 is observed in AZ31B/1.2%GNP composite.