Abstract
In this study, graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) reinforced aluminum (Al) composites with various GNPs content (0.1, 0.3, 0.5wt.%) were fabricated by powder metallurgy (PM) method. In this method, ultrasonication, mixing, filtering, drying, compacting and sintering processes were performed. The crystal structure and microstructure of powders and fabricated composites were analyzed with X-Ray diffractometer (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). With this study, the effects of GNPs content were investigated on the density, Vickers hardness, ultimate tensile strength, and microstructure of Al-GNPs composites. The Vickers hardness (57±2.5 HV) and ultimate tensile strength (120MPa) of Al-0.1%GNPs improved up to +90% and +23.3% when compared with pure aluminum (30±2 HV, 92MPa). From the microstructural analysis, homogeneously distributed GNPs was located at aluminum grain boundaries. The mechanical properties of Al-GNPs composite decreased due to the agglomeration of GNPs above 0.1wt.% GNPs content.
Highlights
Aluminum-based composites are finding increased use in military, automotive, and aerospace industries due to their advanced properties [1]
The results showed that the bulk nanostructured aluminum/graphene composite exhibited increased strength over pure aluminum with an addition of only 0.5wt.% graphene nanoflakes
The ultimate tensile strength (+23.3%) for Al-0.1%graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) composite increased when compared with pure aluminum
Summary
Aluminum-based composites are finding increased use in military, automotive, and aerospace industries due to their advanced properties [1]. These composites can be fabricated through various methods such as powder metallurgy (PM), melting and squeeze casting [2]. Graphene is an attractive material owing to having its good tribological behaviors [7,8,9,10], high electrical [11, 12], thermal [13, 14] and mechanical properties [15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23] such as high fracture strength (125GPa) [24], high Young’s modulus (1 TPa) [24], extreme thermal conductivity (5000 Wm-1K-1) [25], super charge-carrier mobility (200,000 cm2V-1s-1) [26]. One possible way to utilize the graphene’s superior properties for application is to incorporate and disperse graphene in different material matrices such as polymers, ceramics, and metals
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