Fabrication and characterisation of carbon nanotube reinforced copper matrix nanocomposites

Carbon nanotube reinforced metal matrix nanocomposite can be fabricated by using several processes: namely powder metallurgy, molecular-level-mixing, electrodeposition, melt stirring, etc. In this work, carbon nanotube reinforced copper matrix nanocomposites were fabricated by employing the simple powder metallurgy method. Prepared nanocomposites have been characterized by using various characterisation techniques: namely compression test, hardness and density measurement. Morphology and microstructure of composite samples were characterised by using SEM. Properties of the metal matrix nanocomposites were correlated with the microstructure. Experimental results revealed that the density and the specific wear rate of the nanocomposites samples are slightly decreased with the increment of carbon nanotube reinforcement in the metal matrix. Compressive strength of the nanocomposite samples are dramatically increased (155% improvement) with carbon nanotube reinforcement in the copper matrix, while Rockwell hardness number of the samples are slightly increased (22.5% improvement) with an increment of carbon nanotube reinforcement in the matrix material.