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Microstructure and mechanical behaviour of aluminium matrix composites reinforced with graphene oxide and carbon nanotubes

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Abstract

Aluminium (Al) matrix composites reinforced with either 0.5 wt% graphene oxide (GO) or 0.5 wt% carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were hot extruded from ball-milled powders. A control, pure Al bar was also fabricated. Microstructural examination, including Raman mapping, showed a relatively poor dispersion of the carbon nanomaterials within the Al matrix, particularly in the case of the CNTs. Consequently, while the mean grain size of the Al matrix remains invariant with the addition of CNTs, the Al/GO composite exhibits reduced grain size compared to pure Al due to the pinning effect of the reinforcement. Moreover, the addition of both carbonaceous materials resulted in a slight decrease in the typical extrusion duplex <111> + <100> fibre texture intensity. This weakening of the texture was more pronounced in the Al/GO composite, partly due to the pinning effect of the reinforcement. In agreement with their relative mean grain sizes, the Al/GO composite shows an improved mechanical performance over pure Al. Despite the similarity of the mean grain sizes, the Al/CNT composite displays comparable hardness and a decreased compressive yield stress relative to the pure Al. In the absence of chemical reactions at the interfaces, this was attributed to a low efficiency of load transfer from the Al matrix to the reinforcement resulting from the large extent of agglomeration of CNTs.

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Acknowledgements

Much appreciated is the strong support received from Beijing Institute of Aeronautical Materials (BIAM). The research was performed at the BIAM-Manchester Technical Centre for Graphene Aerospace Materials at the University of Manchester.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Graphene Institute and School of Materials, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK

    Paloma Hidalgo-Manrique, Fei Lin, Ian A. Kinloch & Robert J. Young

  2. Beijing Institute of Aeronautical Materials (BIAM), Beijing, China

    Shaojiu Yan, Qihu Hong, Xiang Chen, Xiaoyan Zhang & Shenglong Dai

Authors
  1. Paloma Hidalgo-Manrique
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  2. Shaojiu Yan
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  3. Fei Lin
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  4. Qihu Hong
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  5. Ian A. Kinloch
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  6. Xiang Chen
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  7. Robert J. Young
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  8. Xiaoyan Zhang
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  9. Shenglong Dai
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Correspondence to Shaojiu Yan or Robert J. Young.

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Hidalgo-Manrique, P., Yan, S., Lin, F. et al. Microstructure and mechanical behaviour of aluminium matrix composites reinforced with graphene oxide and carbon nanotubes. J Mater Sci 52, 13466–13477 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-017-1450-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-017-1450-6

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