Microstructure and Hardness Behaviour Study of Carbon Nanotube in Aluminium Nanocomposites

Abstract

In this study, the effect of carbon nanotube (CNT) amount in aluminium (Al)–CNT composites produced by adding CNT to Al alloy in various amounts on microstructure and hardness of CNT-reinforced aluminium metal matrix composites was investigated. CNT was added to Al matrix in different weight percentages. Two different ball materials, namely tungsten ball and aluminium oxide ball, were used for same composition of Al–CNT composites. The milled powders were compacted inside the compaction die and then sintered using microwave sintering process. The microstructural analysis of CNT-reinforced aluminium nanocomposite ball-milled powder is sintered and scanned using SEM. The Brinell hardness test is conducted for Al–CNT nanocomposite samples for both 60 and 100 Kgf loads, and it can be observed that the highest enhancement in hardness value has occurred in CNT 1.3 wt% reinforced into aluminium composites for both 60 and 100 Kgf load. Hence, it can be understood that the alumina ball-milled samples have slightly higher improvement in hardness than compared to tungsten ball-milled samples.