Study on Development of AA5052 based Hybrid Metal Matrix Composites for Tribological Applications

Abstract

Developing a suitable material with the desired properties for engineering applications is a great challenge. The necessity for high performance and low-cost materials caused researchers worldwide to switch the focus from monolithic to composite materials. Conventional materials are gradually being replaced with composites for various industrial applications. In the recent past, a significant effort has been made in this direction to fabricate numerous combinations of metal matrix composites (MMCs). The MMCs are one of the most promising composite materials and find their way into a wide range of applications in strengthening, heat flow, energy storage, sensing, thermal and electrical applications, etc. Among the MMCs, aluminum-based composites are treated as the most promising structural materials due to their high corrosion, wear resistance, specific modulus, and weight for automobile and aerospace applications. In contrast, the MMCs are found to be inferior in terms of toughness in comparison to monolithic material. To overcome the aforementioned problems, researchers are trying to reinforce the MMCs with various micro and nano-constituents. newlineRecent years have witnessed a growing research interest in utilizing carbon nanotube as reinforcement in the aluminum hybrid matrix composites. Compared with conventional reinforcements of aluminum matrix composites, CNT possesses many attractive characteristics, such as extreme strength, modulus, unique self-lubricating property, high thermal conductivity, high electrical conductivity, and low coefficient of thermal expansion. A lot of studies have demonstrated that incorporating CNT into aluminum alloy can effectively enhance the mechanical and physical properties of the composites. The aluminum composites fabricated by the conventional ex-situ synthesis process possess few limitations, such as poor wettability, interfacial bonding, agglomeration, etc.