Fabrication and Mechanical Behavior of Ex Situ Mg-Based Bulk Metallic Glass Matrix Composite Reinforced with Electroless Cu-Coated SiC Particles

Magnesium-based bulk metallic glass matrix composites (BMGMCs) have better plasticity than the corresponding bulk metallic glasses (BMGs); however, their strength and density are often compromised due to the fact that the effective reinforcement phase is mostly plastic heavy metal. For lightweight SiC-particle reinforced BMGMCs, interface wettability and the sharpness of the particles often reduce the strengthening effect. In this work, SiC particles were coated with a thin Cu coating by electroless plating, and added to Mg(54)Cu(26.5)Ag(8.5)Gd(11) melt in an amount of 5 wt % to prepare a BMGMC. The microstructure of the interface, mechanical behavior and fracture morphology of the BMGMC were studied by scanning electron microscopy and quasi-static compression testing. The results showed that the Cu coating improved the wettability between SiC and the matrix alloy without obvious interfacial reactions, leading to the dispersion of SiC particles in the matrix. The addition of Cu-coated SiC particles improved the plastic deformation ability of Mg(54)Cu(26.5)Ag(8.5)Gd(11) BMG, proving that electroless plating was an effective method for controlling the interface microstructure and mechanical behavior of BMGMCs.