Effects of Boron and Zinc On Absorbed Impact Energy of Al-B-Zn

                                 Effects of boron and zinc on absorbed impact energy of Al-B-Zn

Marcos Corchado¹, Fernando Reyes², O. Marcelo Suárez³

¹Mechanical Engineering Department, ²Industrial Engineering Department, ³General Engineering Department

University of Puerto Rico – Mayagüez

 

The effect of increasing amounts of boron, forming AlB₂ particles, and zinc in a gravity cast Al-B-Zn composite was studied and related to the absorbed energy upon fracture during Charpy impact experiments. Superficial Rockwell hardness was correlated with quantitative assessment of brittle and ductile fracture areas on the tested Charpy specimens. Increasing boron concentration resulted in a reduction of absorbed impact energy. Although larger zinc levels produced somewhat similar results, the boron effect was prevalent. Additionally, an increase in the amount of boron as well as zinc resulted in an increase in superficial Rockwell hardness. Finally, analyses of microstructures corroborated that brittle fracture area increased with higher amounts of AlB₂ and zinc.