MICROSTRUCTURE AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF GRAPHENE-REINFORCED ALUMINUM-MATRIX COMPOSITES

Graphene has a high fracture strength. good ductility and low coefficient of thermal expansion, making it an ideal reinforcement for composite materials. This paper reports on an aluminum-matrix composite reinforced with graphene (graphene/All using ball milling and hot-press sintering. The effect of the graphene content on the microstructures. mechanical properties and fracture mechanisms of the composites were investigated. It is shown that 0.25 w/% and 0.5 w/% graphene contents modified with copper are homogeneously dispersed into the aluminum matrix. The composite with the 0.5 w/% graphene content exhibits the highest tensile strength and elongation; its improvement over the unreinforced aluminum matrix is 31.0 % and 30.6 %, respectively. With the increasing graphene content up to 1.0 w/%, the aggregation of graphene in the composite is apparent, seriously reducing the tensile properties. The fracture mechanism of the composites changes from ductile to brittle.