characterization of aluminum matrix composites reinforced with al2o3, sic and graphene fabricated by spark plasma sintering

In this study, aluminum matrix composites reinforced with al2o3 and sic nanoparticles, and graphenenanoplatelets produced by spark plasma sintering (sps) were studied. the microstructural and mechanicalproperties of the composites were evaluated by changing the amounts of the reinforcing materials. the sem imagesshowed that the reinforcing particles were more distributed in the grain boundary regions. according to the results,the addition of alumina and sic to the matrix caused an increase in the composite density whereas the compositedensity decreased by adding graphene nanoplatelets. the highest relative density of 96.3% was obtained for thecomposite containing 2 wt.% al2o3. the presence of the reinforcing particles increased the hardness of all thesamples compared to the pure aluminum (39 hv). the composite containing 1 wt.% al2o3, 0.7 wt.% sic, and 0.3wt.% graphene showed the highest hardness of 79 hv. moreover, the plastic deformation of the specimens decreasedand the slope of the plastic region increased by adding the reinforcing particles to the matrix.