Lightweight magnesium alloy composites for automotive components

Germany 's University of Erlangen-Nuremberg is developing lightweight magnesium alloy composites for automotive components. By reinforcing cast alloys with rigid ceramic foams, improved strength and creep resistance at high temperatures is possible. The process involves preparing open cell polymer-derived ceramic foams in air at 200-300°C from Si/SiC filled polysiloxane by mixing the polymer precursor powder with Si/SiC. The next step involves pyrolysis in nitrogen at 1000-1200°C to convert the polysiloxane. The ceramic foam, which has a high interconnectivity of pores ranging in diameter from 0.5 to 2 mm and a compression strength exceeding 3 MPa, is then infiltrated with molten metal at 680°C and 86 MPa using a squeeze casting process. A dense metal/ceramic interpenetrating phase composite with superior mechanical properties at temperatures above 100°C is produced.

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