Comprehensive study on quasi-static and dynamic mechanical properties and wear behavior of Mg—B4C composite compacted at several loading rates through powder metallurgy

Abstract The present study aims to fabricate and evaluate the mechanical properties and wear behavior of Mg metal matrix composite, reinforced by 0, 1.5, 3, 5 and 10 vol.% B4C microparticles. Mg—B4C samples were fabricated at 450 °C and under different loading rates by using split Hopkinson bar (SHB), drop hammer (DH) and Instron (QS) at strain rates of 1600, 800 and 0.008 s−1, respectively. The mechanical properties including microhardness, quasi-static and dynamic compressive strengths and wear behavior of samples were experimentally investigated. The results show that, the hardness of SHB and DH samples is obtained to be 20.2% and 5.7% higher than that of the QS sample, respectively. The wear rate and wear mass loss of Mg−10.0%B4C samples fabricated by SHB were determined lower than those of the QS sample by nearly 33% and 39%, respectively. The quasi-static compressive strengths of Mg−5.0%B4C are improved by 39%, 30% and 29% for the SHB, DH and QS samples, respectively, in comparison with the case of pure Mg. Furthermore, it is discovered that the dynamic compressive strength of samples is 51%–110% higher than their quasi-static value with respect to the B4C content.