Characterization of Ni-CNTs Nanocomposites Produced by Mechanical Alloying

Abstract

The interest in using CNTs as the reinforcement of metal matrix nanocomposites has been growing considerably due to their enhanced properties. In the present work, nickel was reinforced by carbon nanotubes (CNTs) via high energy mechanical milling method. The effects of various amounts of CNTs (5%, 10%, 20% and 30%) and different milling times (1, 5, 10 and 15 hours) were investigated. X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) analysis were used for evaluation of phase composition, morphology and magnetic properties of the samples, respectively. The results showed a homogeneous dispersion of CNTs into the nickel matrix phase by mechanical milling. It was observed that the increase in the milling time, for a particular amount of CNTs, caused a decrease of mean crystallite size from 56 nm to 35 nm. The increase of CNTs amount also resulted in the powder particle refinement. VSM analysis showed that with the increase of CNTs from 0% to 30%, the magnetization of the samples decreases from 52.36 to 30.74 emu/g, and the coercivity of the nanocomposites increases from 61.45 to 114 Oe.