Fabrication of aluminium carbon nano tube silicon carbide particles based hybrid nano-composite by spark plasma sintering

The present research paper focuses on fabrication of, aluminum (Al) - carbon nano tubes (CNTs)-silicon carbide particles (SiCp)hybrid nano-composites using element-alloying of Al, CNTs, and SiCp powder particles into homogenous powder mixture and sintering the mixture of powders using Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS). The effect of CNTs wt. percentage (1, 3, and 5 wt%) and SiCp as a reinforcement on the mechanical properties and microstructural characteristics were analyzed. The surface topography, microstructure and element composition of the Al-CNTs-SiCp hybrid nano-composites were investigated by field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), optical microscope and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDAX). The Vickers hardness tester is used for measure the micro-hardness of the specimens. Microstructure and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) micrographs conformed that the sintered Al-CNTs-SiCp composite has a good reinforcement of CNTs and SiCp into the grain boundaries of Al-matrix and reduces the dislocation defects thus enhances the microstructure and strengthening metallic bond. As a result, the hybrid composite (Al-5%CNTs-10%SiC) exhibits the micro-hardness 2-fold higher than that of pure-Al. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on Mechanical and Energy Technologies.