Influence of multiwall carbon nanotube on mechanical and wear properties of copper - Iron composite

Multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) are attractive due to their novel physical and chemical characteristics, as well as their larger aspect ratio and higher conductivity. Therefore, MWCNTs can allow tremendous possibilities for the improvement of the necessarily unique composite materials system. The present work deals with fabrication of Cu-Fe/CNTs hybrid composites by powder metallurgy techniques. Copper powder with 10 vol.% of iron powder and different volume fractions of Multi-Wall Carbon Nanotubes (MWCNTs) were mixed to produce hybrid composites. The hybrid composites were fabricated by adding 0.3, 0.6, 0.9, and 1.2 vol.% of MWCNTs to Cu- 10% Fe mixture using a mechanical mixer. The samples were compressed under a load of 700 MPa using a hydraulic press to compact the samples. Sintering was done at 900°C for 2 h at 5°C/min heating rate. The microscopic structure was studied using scanning electron microscope (SEM). The effect of CNTs on the mechanical and wear properties, such as micro-hardness, dry sliding wear, density, and porosity were studied in detail. The wear tests were carried out at a fixed time of 20 minutes while the applied loads were varied (5, 10, 15, and 20 N). SEM images revealed that CNTs were uniformly distributed with relative agglomeration within the Cu/Fe matrix. The results showed that the hardness, density, and wear rates decreased while the percentage of porosity increased with increasing the CNT volume fraction. Furthermore, the wear rate for all the CNTs contents increased with the applied load. © The Authors 2020.