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AZ31 magnesium alloy sheets were processed at 250 °C and 300 °C by groove pressing, a severe plastic deformation technique to achieve grain refinement. The influence of processing temperature on the evolution of microstructure, mechanical properties and corrosion behavior was studied. Groove pressing significantly reduced the grain size of the alloy from 46 μm to 6.5 μm at 250 °C processing temperature. With the higher processing temperature (300 °C), grain growth (11.4 μm) was observed for the alloy. Number of twins appeared in the groove pressed samples. Higher hardness and tensile strength were measured for the groove pressed samples processed at 250 °C without significant loss in the ductility as reflected from the % of elongation due to the grain refinement. Corrosion performance of the samples assessed by potentiodynamic polarization studies indicated increased corrosion resistance for both of the grove pressed samples. However, sample at 300 °C exhibited better corrosion resistance compared with the sample processed at 250 °C. This can be understood by considering the effect of higher processing temperature on reducing the crystal imperfections which alters the corrosion behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tribological characteristics of AZ91/B4C surface composites were studied under air and argon gas environments. Tests were conducted under a constant normal load of 10 N, with a sliding velocity of 0.06 m/s using a linear reciprocating tribometer. Wear tracks and debris were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy, three-dimensional contour topography, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy in order to understand the wear mechanisms. The wear rate of the specimen tested under the argon environment was found to be lower (∼60%) in comparison with that of the specimen tested under the open-air environment. The value of the friction coefficient was found to be minimum under the argon environment compared with the air environment. In the air environment, the major material loss from the test specimen was attributed to oxidation wear; whereas under the argon environment, strain-hardening effect was dominant, and the material was found to be removed by delamination wear. In addition, the worn surface morphology of the wear tracks and counter surfaces showed the involvement of abrasion and adhesion wear mechanisms. The results of the study pave the pathway for the design of lightweight surface composite material systems such as AZ91/B4C toward an efficient and robust tribo-pair applicability for a controlled environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ni–P–BN(h)–Ag hybrid composite coatings were fabricated on the steel substrate by a scalable electroless deposition process. The optimum bath composition and operating conditions were selected to obtain defect-free composite coatings with ∼50 μm thickness. Further, to enhance the hardness, as-deposited coatings were subjected to heat treatment in a tubular furnace at 400°C for 1 h. The dry sliding wear behaviour of the as-deposited (AD) and heat-treated (HT400) composite coatings was evaluated using a linear reciprocating tribometer. The average friction coefficient of the hybrid coating was ∼0.14 (in as-deposited condition) and ∼0.16 (in heat-treated condition); these values represent 51.72% and 52.94% reduction over non-hybrid Ni-P coatings. The specific wear rate of the as-deposited and heattreated composite coatings was found to be 50% and 43% lower, respectively, than that of conventional Ni–P coatings. Detailed wear track analysis was carried out to identify underlying wear mechanisms and tribochemical interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the current work, ZE41 Mg alloy was processed by friction stir processing (FSP) to achieve grain refinement. In addition to grain refinement, decreased intermetallic phase (MgZn) was also observed after FSP. Increased micro-hardness was observed for the processed ZE41 Mg alloy compared to the unprocessed base alloy. X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies demonstrated the texture characteristics in FSPed ZE41. Reciprocating wear studies conducted at three different temperatures, i.e. room temperature, 125 °C, and 250 °C showed lower mass loss for the processed alloy compared to that of the base alloy, particularly at elevated temperatures. This behavior can be understood by considering the benefit gained from the smaller grains and decreased amount of intermetallic phase in the processed alloy, which reduced the abrasion wear. Hence, the present study suggests that the grain refinement and decreased MgZn phase significantly improve the temperature-dependent tribological characteristics of ZE41 Mg alloy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dissimilar lap joint of Al6063 aluminium and AZ91 magnesium alloys was successfully produced by friction stir welding. Three different plunge depths (3.2 mm, 3.25 mm, and 3.3 mm) were adopted during welding. Similar Al6063–Al6063 lap joints were also produced along with the dissimilar Al6063–AZ91 joints for the purpose of comparing the joint formation. With the increased plunge depth, the width of the similar Al6063 ‐ Al6063 lap joint was increased. On the contrary, joint width was decreased for the dissimilar joint with increased plunge depths. The dissimilar joint was formed with a strong metallurgical bonding between the Al6063 and AZ91 alloys, which is attributed to the mechanical mixing of these alloys in the nugget zone. Additionally, the formation of intermetallics was also observed from the x‐ray diffraction analysis. The variations within the measured hardness values were higher at the joint interface due to the mixing of aluminium and magnesium alloys in the nugget zone. From the tensile shear tests, increased strength and decreased elongation were measured with the increased plunge depth. The results demonstrate the importance of the plunge depth on the lap joint formation between dissimilar Al6063–AZ91 alloys during friction stir welding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnesium and its alloys are now attracting a great attention as promising materials for several light weight engineering applications. ZE41 is a new Mg alloy contains Zinc, Zirconium and Rare Earth elements as the important alloying elements and is widely used in aerospace applications. In the present study, heat treatment has been carried out at two different temperatures (300 and 335 °C) to assess the effect of heat treatment on microstructure and corrosion behavior of ZE41 Mg alloy. The grain size was observed as almost similar for the unprocessed and heat treated samples. Decreased amount of secondary phase (MgZn2) was observed after heat treating at 300 °C and increased intermetallic phase (Mg7Zn3) and higher number of twins appeared for the samples heat treated at 335 °C. Microhardness measurements showed increased hardness after heat treating at 300 °C and decreased hardness after heat treating at 335 °C which can be attributed to the presence of higher supersaturated grains after heat treating at 300 °C. The samples heat treated at 335 °C exhibited better corrosion resistance compared to those of base materials and samples heat treated at 300 °C. From the results, it can be understood that the selection of heat treatment temperature is crucial that depends on the requirement i.e. to improve the microhardness or at the loss of microhardness to improve the corrosion resistance of ZE41 Mg alloy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the present work is to modify the microstructure of ZE41 Mg alloy by friction stir processing (FSP) and to study the influence of microstructure on the corrosion, mechanical and machining behavior. Microstructural observations revealed the prevalence of grain refinement from ≈ 100 to 3.5 µm. The compound present at the grain boundary was observed to have decreased to a great extent after FSP suggesting the formation of supersaturated grains. Hardness measurements indicated increased hardness after FSP which was attributed to grain refinement effect. Tensile tests showed increased yield strength after FSP without altering the percentage of elongation which was due to the grain boundary strengthening. Corrosion performance of FSPed ZE41 was found to be similar compared with ZE41 due to the synergy of grain refinement, decreased amount of secondary phase and development of supersaturated grains. Grain size was observed as significant factor on machining characteristics as observed from improved machinability for FSPed ZE41 during drilling experiments. It was learnt from the current work that the grain-refined supersaturated ZE41 Mg alloy could be produced through FSP with better mechanical and machining behavior without deteriorating the corrosion performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stress shielding is a mechanical phenomenon usually found in load-bearing bone implants. Difference in mechanical properties between the natural bone and the artificial implant leads to stress shielding problem. In the present work, polymethyl methacrylate and commercial pure titanium were selected to design laminate and particulate composites. Optimum composition was theoretically obtained that exhibits mechanical properties close to that of natural human bone. Bone fixing plate was designed for femur bone using computer-aided design. Finite element analysis was adopted to analyze the stress distribution in the bone and implant under static load conditions. Fixing plate with three screws was modeled and simulated using finite element analysis to investigate the stress distribution. Simulation was also done considering 316 L stainless steel as fixing implant and compared with the present optimized composition. Laminate composite with 0.3 volume fraction of titanium has shown mechanical properties close to the bone compared with other combinations. The results have clearly shown that the von-Mises stress induced in the bone with polymethyl methacrylate-titanium laminate composite plates was increased compared with the bone implanted with 316 L steel. Interestingly, laminate composites exhibited higher stresses in the bone compared with particulate composites. From the present design and simulation, it is clearly demonstrated that the laminate composites of polymethyl methacrylate–30% titanium can be an optimum choice for load-bearing implant materials with reduced stress shielding effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metallic materials are widely studied for load-bearing applications such as orthopaedic implants. Titanium and its alloys find applications for load-bearing medical implants due to their biocompatibility, good corrosion resistance, high specific strength and good bioadhesion. However, the bioactivity of titanium which can be defined as the ability to form a hydroxyapatite (HA) layer, which is similar to the mineral phase of the bone, on its surface when in contact with the biological environment is poor. On the other hand, magnesium and its alloys are becoming the prime choice for degradable biomaterials targeted for temporary applications in cardiac and orthopaedic fields. However, controlling the degradation rate is the essential issue in developing magnesium-based biomaterials. Synthesis of nano/ultra fine grain materials to enhance the biofunctionalisation of orthopaedic implants is of considerable interest as cells live in a nano-featured environment consisting of a complex mixture of pores and fibres of the extracellular matrix. Recently severe plastic deformation (SPD) processes which can achieve considerable grain refinement, typically to the submicrometre or nanometre level, have gained significant attention in materials research. Therefore, using SPD processes to develop grain-refined titanium and magnesium-based materials for implant applications has become a promising strategy in developing new-generation medical materials. Particularly for titanium, nanostructuring results in improved mechanical properties and increased bioactivity. Whereas for magnesium, grain refinement results in controlled degradation due to higher biomineralisation with enhanced tissue response. The present review aims to provide a comprehensive summary of the progress achieved using SPD processes in developing nano/ultra fine grain structured titanium and magnesium for implant applications. Role of smaller grain size on enhancing bioproperties is also discussed including the challenges involved in processing to achieve the grain refinement up to nano/ultra fine grain level. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Friction stir processing (FSP) was successfully adopted to fabricate nano-hydroxyapatite (nHA) reinforced AZ31 magnesium alloy composite as well as to achieve fine grain structure. The combined effect of grain refinement and the presence of embedded nHA particles on enhancing the biomineralization and controlling the degradation of magnesium were studied. Grain refinement from 56 to ~4 and 2 μm was observed at the stir zones of FSP AZ31 and AZ31-nHA composite respectively. The immersion studies in super saturated simulated body fluid (SBF 5×) for 24 h suggest that the increased wettability due to fine grain structure and nHA particles present in the AZ31-nHA composite initiated heterogeneous nucleation which favored the early nucleation and growth of calcium-phosphate mineral phase. The nHA particles as nucleation sites initiated rapid biomineralization in the composite. After 72 h of immersion the degradation due to localized pitting was observed to be reduced by enhanced biomineralization in both the FSPed AZ31 and the composite. Also, best corrosion behavior was observed for the composite before and after immersion test. MTT assay using rat skeletal muscle (L6) cells showed negligible toxicity for all the processed and unprocessed samples. However, cell adhesion was observed to be more on the composite due to the small grain size and incorporated nHA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present work, AZ31B Mg alloy and Al6063 alloy-rolled sheets were successfully joined by friction stir welding. Microstructural studies revealed a sound joint with good mechanical mixing of both the alloys at the nugget zone. Corrosion performance of the joint was assessed by immersing in 3.5% NaCl solution for different intervals of time and the corrosion rate was calculated. The joint has undergone severe corrosion attack compared with both the base materials (AZ31B and Al6063 alloys). The predominant corrosion mechanism behind the high corrosion rate of the joint was found to be high galvanic corrosion. From the results, it can be suggested that the severe corrosion of dissimilar Mg–Al joints must be considered as a valid input while designing structures intended to work in corroding environment. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]