Low-Temperature Fabrication of Porous Mg-Zn Foams by a Reactive Sintering Powder Metallurgy Approach

Porous Mg-xZn ( x = 8, 10, 12 wt.%) alloy foams with open pore structures were fabricated with a low-temperature reactive sintering powder metallurgy approach, in which carbamide particles were used as the space holder. The key to the successful consolidation of porous Mg-Zn alloy foams at a low sintering temperature, 325 °C, was to take advantage of the reaction between Mg and Zn. The quasistatic compressive behavior of the fabricated porous Mg-Zn alloy foam was investigated. The results show that after sintering, the intermetallic grains are coarser and more intermetallic grains are generated with increasing Zn addition. For a given pore structure, the compression yield strength is influenced by the amount of Zn addition, where the porous Mg-10 wt.% Zn alloy exhibits the highest compression strength. Moreover, the compression stress–strain curves in the plateau region are serrated due to the cell wall brittleness.