Hot deformation response of AL 6061-MWCNTs alloy composites

Abstract

In this investigation, the effect of multi walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) on compressive response with Al 6061 alloy nanocomposites prepared by mechanical alloying has been investigated. Hot deformation tests required to develop processing map were conducted at three temperatures such as 250, 350 and 450°C and in the three strain rates of 0.01, 0.1 and 1.0 s-1. The development of geometric dynamic recrystallization (DRX), dynamic recovery (DRV), instability regions and shear bands were confirmed by characterization study of prepared nanocomposites after hot Compression tests. The average activation energies for hot compression response was calculated as 153.00 KJ/mole for 2 wt.% MWCNTs reinforced Al 6061 alloy (AA 6061) nanocomposites. The most favorable key processing parameters for hot deformation was identified as temperature between 370-450°C and the range of strain rate was 0.1-0.01s-1. The region which are prone to shear localization, cracks and other instability were identified using the processing map and the same was verified with microstructural images obtained using optical and SEM images.