Development of press-and-sinter Al2024-based nanocomposites reinforced with multiwalled carbon nanotubes

Abstract

To fabricate large-scale multi-walled carbon nanotube-reinforced aluminum matrix composites, in this study, nanocomposites powder is successfully consolidated with simple processing methods. Ball milling is used to disperse multi-walled carbon nanotubes in the aluminum alloy 2024 matrix, and sequential cold press, hot press, and sintering techniques are selected for fabricating fully dense samples. As a result, an aluminum alloy 2024 composite with 4 vol.% multi-walled carbon nanotubes shows a yield strength of ∼700 MPa and an elongation to failure of 1.5% with Young’s modulus of 86.4 GPa. The large-scale composite can be used for automobile parts such as swash plates or piston heads.