Study on tribological and corrosion behaviors of mechanically alloyed and spark plasma sintered aluminium mwcnt composites

Abstract

Aluminium (Al) based Metal Matrix Composites (MMC) plays a vital newlinerole in the structural, automobile, aerospace, and marine applications due to its newlinehigh strength to low density ratio. The addition of low-density reinforcement to newlineAluminium Metal Matrix Composites (AMMC) could be a solution for newlinelightweight design models. The commonly preferred low-density reinforcement newlinefor AMMC is Carbon Nano Tubes (CNT), which are mainly used in structural and newlineoil-manifold applications. This AMMC could be also used in tribological newlineapplications. Since, CNT is a solid self-lubricant. From the earlier research, it is newlineobserved that the simple and effective techniques for the fabrication of AMMC newlinethrough powder metallurgy route are Mechanical Alloying (MA) process and newlineSpark Plasma Sintering (SPS) Process. Many researchers had reported that the newlineprocessing factors and parameters of MA and SPS processes influences the newlinemechanical, tribological and corrosion behaviors of the Al/CNT composites. The newlinesintering methods and its temperature range could affect the mechanical and newlinetribological properties of AMMCs. Therefore, it is necessary to identify the newlineoptimal process condition/manufacturing method to achieve the better performing newlineAl/CNT composite. The manufacturing method is a configuration of different influencing newlinefactors. Therefore, it is important to study each factor and their level of influence newlineon the responses. The influencing factors of MA and SPS processes are newlinereinforcement (MWCNT), milling parameters (milling time, milling speed and newlineball-to-powder ratio), and sintering condition (sintering pressure, and sintering newlinetemperature) on the mechanical, tribological and corrosion behaviors of the newlineAl/CNT composites, which are not studied in detail in the earlier studies. Based newlineon the inference and research gap of the literature, the objective of the current newlineresearch is to identify the optimal configuration of MA and SPS processes for the newlineAl/CNT composites using the Response Surface Methodology (RSM) to achieve newlinethe maximum mechanical strength, wear