Mechanical and Thermal Evaluation of Aluminum Hybrid Nanocomposite Reinforced with Alumina and Graphene Oxide

• Main Authors: Abdul Samad Mohammed, Tawfeeq Saad Alahmari, Tahar Laoui, Abbas Saeed Hakeem, Faheemuddin Patel
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-05-01
• Series: Nanomaterials
• Subjects: aluminum; metal matrix; nanocomposites; graphene oxide; alumina; spark plasma sintering
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2079-4991/11/5/1225

Aluminum matrix composites are among the most widely used metal matrix composites in several industries, such as aircraft, electronics, automobile, and aerospace, due to their high specific strength, durability, structural rigidity and high corrosion resistance. However, owing to their low hardness and wear resistance, their usage is limited in demanding applications, especially in harsh environments. In the present work, aluminum hybrid nanocomposite reinforced with alumina (Al₂O₃) and graphene oxide (GO) possessing enhanced mechanical and thermal properties was developed using spark plasma sintering (SPS) technique. The focus of the study was to optimize the concentration of Al₂O₃ and GO content in the composite to improve the mechanical and thermal properties such as hardness, compressive strength, heat flow, and thermal expansion. The nanocomposites were characterized by FESEM, EDS, XRD and Raman spectroscopy to investigate their morphology and structural properties. In the first phase, different volume percent of alumina (10%, 20%, 30%) were used as reinforcement in the aluminum matrix to obtain (Al+X% Al₂O₃) composite with the best mechanical/thermal properties which was found to be 10 V% of Al₂O₃. In the second phase, a hybrid nanocomposite was developed by reinforcing the (Al + 10 V% Al₂O₃) with different weight percent (0.25%, 0.5%, 1%) of GO to obtain the optimum composition with improved mechanical/thermal properties. Results revealed that the Al\10 V% Al₂O₃\0.25 wt.% GO hybrid nanocomposite showed the highest improvement of about 13% in hardness and 34% in compressive strength as compared to the Al\10V% Al₂O₃ composite. Moreover, the hybrid nanocomposite Al\10 V% Al₂O₃\0.25 wt.% GO also displayed the lowest thermal expansion.