Abstract:
Aluminium (Al) has low strength, limiting its applicability for certain technical applications seeking higher mechanical strength and deformation resistance. Integration of ternary hybrid reinforcement in Al offers a compelling opportunity to achieve a synergistic combination of multiple desirable properties opening new avenues for advanced engineering applications beyond what can be achieved with mono or binary reinforcement systems. Here, Al-based nanocomposites were developed by incorporating a ternary hybrid reinforcement system, consisting of graphite nanoplatelets (GnP), hBN and MWCNT. Al-1 wt.% GnP0.3CNT0.3hBN0.4, Al-2 wt.% GnP0.3CNT0.3hBN1.4, Al-3 wt.% GnP0.3CNT0.3hBN2.4, and Al-5 wt.% GnP0.3CNT0.3hBN4.4 nanocomposites were developed by powder metallurgy (PM) route. The results indicate that the Al-1 wt.% GnP0.3MWCNT0.3hBN0.4 hybrid nanocomposite exhibits the highest wear resistance. Among the hBN-based nanocomposites, Al-3 wt.% hBN nanocomposite exhibited the best wear properties. Increasing the hBN loading level in the CNT-GnP-hBN ternary nanofiller system beyond 0.4 wt.% resulted in a deterioration of physical, mechanical and wear properties. Al-1 wt.% CNT0.3GnP0.3hBN0.4 hybrid nanocomposite had the highest relative density and hardness of -92.56% of -415.91 MPa respectively. The compressive strength (& sigma;max) of Al-1 wt.% CNT0.3GnP0.3hBN0.4 hybrid nanocomposite was -874.77 MPa, while the & sigma;max rapidly declined in the nanocomposites with the increased content of the CNT-GnP-hBN hybrid nanofiller.
