Fabrication of Al5083 surface hybrid nanocomposite reinforced by CNTs and Al₂O₃ nanoparticles using friction stir processing

Abstract

In the present study, friction stir processing was adopted for surface treatment of Al5083 by incorporation of CNT and Al2O3 nanoparticles. Microstructural, mechanical and tribological properties of the surface of Al5083/CNT, Al5083/Al2O3 and hybrid Al5083/CNT/Al2O3 nanocomposite were investigated and compared. The friction stir processing yielded a nearly uniform dispersion of CNTs and Al2O3 nanoparticles, irrespective of nanoparticle reinforcements and their weight fraction. Microstructural observations revealed that Al2O3 nanoparticles have dispersed in different zones including intra-grain and grain boundary zones while, CNTs are pinned into grain boundaries during friction stir processing. From mechanical point of view, hybridization of CNT/Al2O3 enhances the hardness (126 HV at stirred zone), strength (UTS of ∼487 MPa) and also wear resistance of Al5083/CNT/Al2O3 nanocomposites. The enhancement is attributed to the presence and combination of features of both CNT and Al2O3 nanoparticles which are different in nature; one spherical oxide and one nanotube.

An Optimized Multilayer Perceptrons Model Using Grey Wolf Optimizer to Predict Mechanical and Microstructural Properties of Friction Stir Processed Aluminum Alloy Reinforced by Nanoparticles

“…As a result of the unique characteristics of nanocomposite materials, this method has been utilized to fabricate nanocomposite structures for diverse purposes. During dynamic recrystallization of grains, nanocomposite structures contain reinforcement nanoparticles that disperse along grain boundaries [4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. Al 2 O 3 , SiC, Ti 2 B, and CNT were used as reinforcement particles to strengthen the aluminum alloy matrix; hence, multiple FSP passes are carried out during the process [11][12][13][14][15].…”

Microstructural and mechanical studies of multi-walled CNTs/Mg composite fabricated through FSP

“…Moreover, thermal expansion response of MWCNT reinforced Al composite was studied by Zhou et al 30 and found Aluminium carbide (Al 4 C 3 ) nanostructure formation during heat treatment process led to increase load transfer capability at the interface and increase yield strength of composite. Farhad et al 31 examined Al5083 hybrid nanocomposite reinforced with CNTs and Al 2 O 3 via friction stir process and obtained additional hybridization of CNT/Al 2 O 3 collectively improved the strength and hardness. Moreover, the wear properties like wear resistance also enhanced by making hybrid composites.…”

Nano-Surface Composite Coating Reinforced by Ta2C, Al2O3 and MWCNTs Nanoparticles for Aluminum Base via FSP

“…The FSP process is considered one of the most effective methods for fabricating metal matrix composite surfaces because of its ability to introduce various reinforcing nanoparticles into the metal base without significant obstacles during the fabrication process [9,10]. The FSP method has been used to improve and modify the surface properties of processed aluminum alloys by using reinforced particles and ceramic materials such as Al 2 O 3 , B 4 C, SiC, VC, CWNTs, TiB 2 and others [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. The hybrid composites exhibit excellent strength properties, uniformity and significantly improved microstructural behavior.…”