Investigation on the combined effect of ZnO nanorods and Y2O3 nanoparticles on the microstructural and mechanical response of aluminium

In this work Al-ZnO-Y2O3 hybrid composites were fabricated utilizing powder metallurgy and hybrid microwave sintering approach from the powder blend of Al, ZnO and Y2O3. Depth sensing nano-indentation technique was adopted to assess the nano-hardness and elastic modulus of the composite material. Thermal analysis of the composite materials was done to gain an insight into surface decomposition and phase transformation behaviour. A strong interfacial bonding with clear interface between matrix and reinforcement was observed during the microstructural analysis of the composite material. The results of the current study exhibit similar to 89% improvement in the nano-hardness and similar to 11% improvement in the elastic modulus value. The improvement in the material response is attributed to the reasonably uniform distribution of ZnO and Y2O3 in the hybrid composite materials. The results of this study validate the capability of combined presence of ZnO and Y2O3 reinforcements to enhance the hardness and elastic modulus of aluminium.