Effects of graphene addition on the microstructure of 7075Al

Abstract

Abstract In this paper, the effect of the addition of graphene on the as-cast and homogenized annealing microstructure of 7075 aluminum alloy (AlZnMgCu) was studied. The analytical model devised in this study has demonstrated the significant grain refinement of graphene-7075 aluminium matrix composites (G-7075) due to large surface area of graphene. The results showed that the as-cast microstructure of graphene-7075 aluminum matrix composite was refined significantly, which the average grain size of the composite decreased from 78 μm to 45 μm and lattice distortion is more significant. The effect of the dissolution of the non-equilibrium eutectic structure and the secondary phase distribution of the graphene-7075 aluminum matrix composite is better after annealing at 470 °C for 16 hours.