Green synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles: Mechanical and microstructural characterization of aluminum nano composites

Abstract

In this research article mainly focused on the fabrication of aluminum nano composite to enhance the properties of mechanical & microstructural behavior. The nano-sized zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles act as reinforcements and added in A357 alloys to fabricating aluminum nano composite. The novel and affordable ceramic reinforcement that can be used effectively to increase the properties of material which were fabricated by stir casting technique. The synthesis of ZnO NPs was prepared via simple combustion methods and cicer arietinum as fuel. The morphological characteristics of ZnO NPs were found such as UV–Visible spectroscopy, X-ray Powder Diffraction (XRD), FT-IR, and Photoluminescence spectroscopy. The results show that the ultimate tensile strength (UTS), yield strength (YS), microhardness values were enriched by adding weight percentages of ZnO NPs while ductility is reduced. The surface analysis of the microstructure of the nano composite materials was studied using optical metallurgical microscope. The optical microscopic observation of microstructural images reveals that the dispersion of ZnO nanoparticles thought the matrix is uniform in case of stir casting techniques. The enhanced mechanical properties were obtained by the addition of 3 wt% of ZnO synthesized nanoparticles.