Title : ( Fabrication of Aluminium-Carbon nanotube Composites Via Spark Plasma Sintering Method )
Authors: Abolfazl Babakhani ,Abstract
Abstract: In this study, an attempt was performed on the fabrication of Aluminum-Carbon nanotube composites (Al-CNTs) by Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) method. Aluminum matrix composites reinforced with 0 to 5 wt. % multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were fabricated by mixing the composite powders, as starting materials, in ball mill for 1h and consequently sintered at 550oC using a spark plasma sintering (SPS) apparatus. The microstructures of these composites were characterized by TEM and SEM and also microhardness and compression testing of Al-CNT composites were carried out. The chemical compositional analysis of bulk samples of the spark plasma sintered aluminum-carbon nanotube composites were done by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The results show the successful synthesis of product by novel SPS method and also the improvement in hardness and compressive strength of composites compared to pure Al samples.