Ageing kinetics in Carbon nanotube reinforced Aluminium alloy AA6063

摘要

Multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were added to Aluminium alloy AA6063 by powder metallurgy route. The samples were compacted, sintered and microhardness was measured on sintered samples. The weight fraction of MWCNTs was varied between 0.5-2.5%. The hardness of the composite has been observed to increase. The ageing curves after solutionizing and artificial ageing have been plotted for various weight fractions of MWCNTs in AA6063 alloy. Electroless copper coating was given to CNTs and the hardness of the samples with Cu coated CNTs in AA6063 showed a higher hardness than the samples without Cu coating on CNTs. Further the ageing curves showed a faster kinetics with increase of MWCNTs in Al6063. This result applied to coated CNTs in 6063 which also showed accelerated ageing kinetics during artificial ageing gives inherent evidence for the Arsenault's thermal mismatch model of strengthening of MWCNT/Al nanocomposite.