Numerical estimation of hardness of carbon nanotubes reinforced al metal matrix

Abstract

The present study focuses on the numerical estimation of hardness of Aluminum with MWCNT sintered composite by variation of percentage amount of MWCNT’s being mixed to the base metal. By applying the rule of mixtures, the physical properties of Al-MWCNT were modeled for conducting the Brinell hardness test numerically. The numerical estimation is based on the explicit dynamics formulations in order to account the short duration and high deformation of the body and nonlinearity. By changing the indentation force applied on the composite specimen, various indented diameters are measured and hardness is calculated. It is found by the observations that for the higher percentages of the MWCNT mixed the hardness of the specimen is also increased proportionally by a trend constant.