Fabrication of Magnesium-Aluminum Composites under High-Pressure Torsion: Atomistic Simulation

Abstract

The aluminum–magnesium (Al–Mg) composite materials possess a large potential value in practical application due to their excellent properties. Molecular dynamics with the embedded atom method potentials is applied to study Al–Mg interface bonding during deformation-temperature treatment. The study of fabrication techniques to obtain composites with improved mechanical properties, and dynamics and kinetics of atom mixture are of high importance. The loading scheme used in the present work is the simplification of the scenario, experimentally observed previously to obtain Al–Cu and Al–Nb composites. It is shown that shear strain has a crucial role in the mixture process. The results indicated that the symmetrical atomic movement occurred in the Mg–Al interface during deformation. Tensile tests showed that fracture occurred in the Mg part of the final composite sample, which means that the interlayer region where the mixing of Mg, and Al atoms observed is much stronger than the pure Mg part.