Creep behavior of A356 aluminum alloy reinforced with multi-walled carbon nanotubes by stir casting

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-1-2022

Abstract

Lightweight aluminum alloy components are often used to manufacture a variety of engineering components in many industries. In recent years, researchers have studied the effect of improving the mechanical properties of metal alloys by incorporating nano-carbon into its structure. In this study, the effect of the addition of 0.2, 0.5, and 1 wt% of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) on the stress-strain behavior and creep phenomenon of an A356 aluminum alloy were studied. The effect of nickel coating on 0.2 wt% MWCNTs was also investigated. Samples were prepared using the stir-casting method. The results revealed that the grain size became finer when MWCNT nano-particulates were introduced. Although the MWCNTs were distributed homogeneously in the A356 matrix, as confirmed by FESEM analysis, there were some agglomerations observed in a specific area with dimensions smaller than 100 nm. Nevertheless, the addition of MWCNTs was found to be beneficial in enhancing the hardness of alloys containing 0.2 wt%, 0.2 wt% nickel-coated, 0.5 wt%, and 1 wt% MWCNTs by 9%, 24%, 32%, and 15%, respectively, as compared with the unreinforced A345 matrix. It was also found that the 0.5 wt% MWCNT-A356 matrix exhibited an improvement in the creep lifetime by more than two orders of magnitude.

Keywords

Aluminum alloy, Stir casting, Nanocomposites, MWCNTs, Creep

Publication Title

Materials

Divisions

fac_eng,mechanical

Funders

SATU Grant (Grant No: ST036-2021 & IF 045-2021)

Volume

15

Issue

24

Publisher

MDPI

Publisher Location

ST ALBAN-ANLAGE 66, CH-4052 BASEL, SWITZERLAND

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS