| Aluminum- and magnesium-based alloys were developed to investigate the possibility of forming light-weight nanocomposite materials. Four nanocrystalline alloys with nominal compositions Mg40Al60-xZrx (x = 0, 5, 20 and 35 at. % Zr) were prepared by mechanical alloying aiming to synthesize nanocomposite materials containing nanocrystals embedded in an amorphous matrix. The addition of Zr proved to be beneficial in refining and stabilizing the nanostructure of these alloys. However, traces of oxygen contamination were detected in the XRD diffractograms upon increasing Zr content. The mechanical behavior was investigated by microhardness tests and the results showed that upon increasing Zr, hardness improves. |
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