Abstract
The need for lightweight materials towards aerospace has increased prominently. This paper focuses on introducing a novel reinforcement mixture of graphene with Al 2014 powder synthesised through ball milling technique. The synthesized powder was utilized as a reinforcement to fabricate Al 2014 based MMCs through squeeze casting technique. The results exhibited that Al 2014 mixture with embedded and interlocked 2D-Gr np (2.517 g/cm 3) matched the density of the matrix metal (2.771 g/cm 3) that facilitated homogeneous dispersion of 2D-Gr np and solved the dispersion problems during stir casting. As a result, AA 2014 embedded with 2D-Gr np acted as a carrier to homogeneously disperse combined with the squeeze casting process leading to the production of homogeneously reinforced MMC. This can be considered as a potential fabrication route for the launch vehicle super lightweight fuel tank (SLWT) structural application. The final casted plate after T6 heat treatment with 0.5 wt% 2D-Gr np exhibited an improved tensile strength of 361 MPa (52% higher than the monolithic 2014 aluminium alloy) with total elongation of 21% and improved hardness of 119 HRB (45.5 % increase). Furthermore, SEM and TEM results exhibited that squeeze casting led to enhanced interfacial bonding between the 2D-Gr np and Al 2014.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 111990 |
Number of pages | 14 |
Journal | Materials and Design |
Volume | 230 |
Early online date | 9 May 2023 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Jun 2023 |
Bibliographical note
2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Keywords
- Al 2014
- Graphene nano-powder
- Metal matrix MMCs
- Squeeze casting
- Stir casting
- Super lightweight fuel tank (SLWT)
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Mechanics of Materials
- Mechanical Engineering
- Materials Science(all)