Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have exceptional mechanical and physical properties, including extremely high strength and elastic modulus not matched by any known materials, and excellent thermal and electrical conductivities. These properties make CNTs attractive as reinforcement for composite materials. Also, the significant progress in producing CNTs in large quantity and lower cost is helping to break the cost barrier for the application of CNTs. The objective of this research is to develop aluminium matrix nanocomposites reinforced with CNTs to improve the mechanical and physical properties. Although polymer matrix composites reinforced with CNTs have been widely studied with promising results, CNTs reinforced metal matrix composites have been rarely explored due to the many challenges. These include homogeneously dispersing the CNTs in the matrix, maintaining the integrity of the CNTs during materials processing, and how to form a strong bond between CNTs and the metal matrix. In the proposed research, aluminium matrix composites with CNT reinforcement will be developed. The research will include the development of (1) the formulation for the Al/CNTs composites, (2) a semisolid fabrication process for the composites, including the use different methods for enhancing homogeneous distributions of CNTs in the aluminium matrix and interface bonding, such as pre-treatment of CNTs with a surface coating before adding the CNTs to the aluminium matrix (3) the characterization of the Al/CNTs composites, including microstructures, mechanical properties, and thermal conductivity. The successful development of the Al-CNTs composites is expected to provide advanced lightweight materials with superior strength and stiffness for various applications, such as aerospace and automotive industries.