Journal Of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering

Journal Of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering

Investigating wear and mechanical behavior of A380 aluminum hybrid nanocomposite reinforced with graphene nanosheets and SiC nanoparticles

Document Type : Original Articles

Author
Mohammad Alipour
Faculty of Mechanical engineering, Department of Materials Engineering, University of Tabriz, Iran
10.22067/jmme.2025.86140.1138
Abstract
The purpose of this research is to investigate the microstructure and wear behavior of AlA380 alloy nanocomposite reinforced with graphene nanoplates (GNPs) and SiC nanoparticles produced by ball milling and spark plasma sintering furnace (SPS). The percentage of SiC nanoparticles was fixed and the percentage of graphene nanosheets was considered variable. Graphene nanosheets with percentages of 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1% by and SiC nanoparticles at 0.5% by weight were added to the nanocomposite. The presence of dispersed GNPs with high specific surface area significantly increases the strength and hardness of composites. Microstructural studies of the alloy showed that the addition of GNPs up to 0.5 wt% reduced the grain size, but the addition of a higher amount of GNPs (1 wt%) did not significantly change the grain size. At higher GNP values, the presence of graphene agglomerates at the grain boundaries is a favorable path for crack growth. The optimal amount of nanosheets was 0.5% by weight. The wear resistance of the produced nanocomposites is higher than the base sample and the weight reduction of the base sample is 3 times compared to the optimal sample. Due to the self-lubricating nature of graphene, the friction coefficient for the base sample and the nanocomposite containing 0.5% by weight of graphene is 0.689 and 0.455, respectively, which indicates a reduction in the friction coefficient. Also, the hardness of the samples increases from 105 Vickers for the base sample to 175 Vickers for the sample containing 0.5% by weight of graphene.
Keywords
Aluminum-based nanocomposite
wear behavior
mechanical properties
Microstructure
graphene
silicon carbide
Subjects
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