ISSN: 2717-7203
Anhydrous borax usage as a space holder for vacuum sintered porous magnesium: Microstructural and mechanical insights
1Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Kocaeli Faculty of Engineering, Kocaeli, Türkiye
J. Adv. Manuf. Eng. 2024; 1(5): 1-8 DOI: 10.14744/ytu.jame.2024.00001
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Abstract

In this study, magnesium powder and anhydrous borax (Na2B4O7) particulates sintered in a Hot Press (HP) machine by widely preferred space holder technique in three different weight ratios; to obtain the best ratio for a homogenous magnesium foam for specific usage in multi-disciplinary applications. Metallic foams are industrial products manufactured from porous metal materials. Although it is much lighter than other metal materials, it is gaining importance due to its high resistance, absorbing shocks, and vibrations, providing thermal insulation, gaining biodegradable implant solutions in orthopaedics, chemical filtration, and battery production, and many more for trying to increase its research to be used in practice. Anhydrous borax (ANB) used in thesis study was blended with commercial pure Mg powder at the rates of 20%, 40% and 60% by weight and sintered to produce metal foams. The ANB particle sizes used are T1 (250 ̴ 400 µm), T2 (400 ̴ 500 µm) and T3 (over 500 µm). Mg foam was prepared via a hydraulic pressure assisted HP sintering machine at various sintering temperatures 550˚C to 600˚C. The produced Mg foams evaluated in terms of density, porosity, and mechanical strength in general. Maximum achieved porosity ratio is 36.17%. Compression and three-point bending tests were performed to evaluate the usability of the samples as possible bonefixing implants. The compressive stress measured for the max. porosity achieved is 32 to 44 MPa respectively. This study represents a novel implementation of ANB in metal foaming due to the lack of information on the use of ANB mineral in this specific space-holder metal foaming academic field. ANB is the richest B2O3 source relative to other natural borax minerals without H2O molecules in it. So, this is believed to be a key advantage in foaming processes.