Microstructure and Physical Properties of Graphene/Al Composites
Author of the article:LI Lei1, YANG Nanpeng1, HUANG Pu1, XU Zhengbing1,2,3
Author's Workplace:1. Key Laboratory of High-Performance Structural Materials and Thermo-Surface Processing, Guangxi University, Nanning530004, China; 2. State Key Laboratory of Featured Metal Materials and Life-cycle Safety for Composite Structures, GuangxiUniversity, Nanning 530004, China; 3. Centre of Ecological Collaborative Innovation for Aluminum Industry in Guangxi,Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China
Key Words:graphene; aluminum matrix composite; cold press sintering; microstructure; physical properties
Abstract:
Aluminum matrix composites have become mainstream in current research on light metal matrix compositesbecause of their advantages, such as light weight, corrosion resistance, low thermal expansion coefficient, excellentelectrical and thermal conductivity and excellent processing properties. Among them, graphene/Al composites are currentlya hot research topic. To investigate the effect of graphene content on the physical properties of graphene/Al composites,graphene/Al composites with graphene mass fractions of 0% (pure aluminium), 0.3%, 0.6% and 0.9% were prepared via thecold press sintering method, and the micromorphology of the graphene/Al composites was analysed using opticalmicroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffractometer. The density, hardness, specific heat capacity, thermaldiffusion coefficient and thermal conductivity of the graphene/Al composites were tested and analysed using ahigh-precision solid densitometer, microhardness tester, high-temperature DSC analyser and laser thermal conductivitymeter (LFA) to compare and analyse the mechanism of the influence of different graphene contents on the properties of thegraphene/Al composites. The results show that the graphene in the graphene/Al composites is uniformly distributed in thealuminium matrix, and the addition of graphene results in obvious grain refinement in the matrix. When the graphenecontent is greater than 0.6 wt.%,the agglomeration of graphene is observed in the composites. With increasing graphenecontent, the density and densification of the graphene/Al composites gradually decrease, the hardness tends to increase andthen decrease, the specific heat capacity gradually decreases, the thermal diffusion coefficient increases and then slightly decreases, and the thermal conductivity slowly increases.