Nanocrystallized magnesium alloy -: uniform dispersion of C60 molecules

C-60 was successfully dispersed in a magnesium alloy (AZ31) using friction stir processing (FSP). The grain size of the AZ31 was reduced by the uniform distribution of the C-60 Molecules. The stir zone of the FSPed AZ31 with the C-60 consisted of very small grains, sized less than 100 nm. The maximum microhardness of the C-60/AZ31 nanocomposite reached similar to 126 Hv, which is almost three times higher than that of the AZ31 substrate. (c) 2006 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.