Effects of carbon nanotube content and annealing temperature on the hardness of CNT reinforced aluminum nanocomposites processed by the high pressure torsion technique

In this paper, the microstructure and hardness of CNT reinforced aluminium (CNT/Al) nanocomposites prepared by the advanced powder metallurgy method and subsequently processed by the high pressure torsion (HPT) technique are studied. The effects of CNT content and annealing temperature on the hardness of the nanocomposites are investigated. The results show that annealing materials at temperatures below 150 °C leads to secondary hardening, while annealing at higher temperatures soften the nanocomposites. HPT-processed CNT/Al nanocomposites with 1.5 wt.% of CNTs are shown to have the highest hardness in comparison with other composites containing CNTs from 0 up to 2 wt.%. Microstructures, CNT distribution and the phase composition of CNT/Al nanocomposites are investigated by transmission and scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction techniques.