Room and high-temperature mechanical behavior of reduced graphene oxide‑aluminum (RGO-Al) composite wire conductors – A micro-mechanical investigation

Abstract

In this study, we present a micro-mechanical investigation of cold-drawn reduced graphene oxide (RGO) reinforced aluminum (Al) composite wires from 293 K up to 523 K. Room temperature micro-tensile, high-temperature (HT) micro-pillar compression, and HT nanoindentation tests revealed the superior mechanical properties of the composite compared to the unreinforced Al sample over the whole temperature range. Complementary thermal stability measurements and associated microstructural analysis proved that RGO effectively prohibited grain growth by grain boundary pinning. The RGO-Al composite wires are shown to be much stronger, heat-resistant, and easier to fabricate than conventional HT Al alloy-based conductors with adequate conductivity.