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Aluminum matrix composites reinforced with multi-walled carbon nanotubes and C60 manufactured by laser powder bed fusion

Journal of Materials Science volume 57, pages 17984–17999 (2022)Cite this article

Abstract

Carbon nano-materials are widely used as reinforcing materials for aluminum-based composites due to their excellent metallurgical properties. This study presents an approach for manufacturing Al/C composites utilizing a high energy ball milling and laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) process. We prepared Al/C60 and Al/MWCNT composites under 25 different conditions to observe their microstructure and mechanical property trends according to laser power and scan speed. The relative density of LPBFed composites increased as the energy density increased due to the oxide layer present on the aluminum surface and the high laser reflectance. It was found that, as the energy density increased, the increase in nanohardness and elastic modulus of the LPBFed composites was due to the high relative density. However, the high laser power condition of 179 W resulted in the softening of materials due to grain coarsening, resulting in a decrease in nanohardness and elastic modulus. Under the same laser conditions, the nanohardness of the LPBFed Al/2 vol.% MWCNT composites was approximately 0.5 GPa higher than that of the LPBFed Al/1 vol.% C60 composites, which is explained by the high relative density and grain refinement strengthening.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (MSIT) (No. 2021R1I1A3050323) and the “Competency Development Program for Industry Specialists” of the Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE), operated by the Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology (KIAT) (No. P0002019, HRD Program for High Value-Added Metallic Material Expert).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Metallurgical Engineering, Sunchon National University, Suncheon, 57922, Republic of Korea

    Sangmin Yoo & Se-Eun Shin

  2. Department of Materials Process Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, 464-8603, Japan

    Naoki Takata & Makoto Kobashi

Authors
  1. Sangmin Yoo
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  2. Se-Eun Shin
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  3. Naoki Takata
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  4. Makoto Kobashi
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Correspondence to Se-Eun Shin.

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Handling Editor: M. Grant Norton.

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Yoo, S., Shin, SE., Takata, N. et al. Aluminum matrix composites reinforced with multi-walled carbon nanotubes and C60 manufactured by laser powder bed fusion. J Mater Sci 57, 17984–17999 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-022-07119-6

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