Fabrication of high strength aluminum-graphene oxide (GO) composites using microwave sintering

The aim of the present study is to use microwave sintering technique to fabricate Al-Graphene oxide (Al-GO) composites with different concentration of GO (i.e. 0.5 wt %, 1 wt%, and 2 wt%) at 600 degrees C for 15 min. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) were utilized to investigate the microstructural development. Uniform dispersion of GO was obtained in Al-0.5GO composite whereas other concentration of Al-GO composites suffered from agglomeration of GO particles. In addition to microstructure, the hardness, compressive strength, and corrosion resistance of the Al-GO composites were also examined. A remarkable improvement in compressive strength (up to 200%) was attained in Al-0.5GO composite while further addition of GO deteriorated the mechanical strength and hardness due to agglomeration and increase of the microporosities. In spite of significant enhancement in compressive strength with optimum amount of GO nanoplatelets (i.e. 0.5%), the corrosion resistance of the Al-GO composites was degraded by the addition of GO nanoplatelets mainly due to the increased amount of microporosities and surface roughness originating from agglomeration of GO nanoplatelets.