Carbon Nanotube/Aluminium Composites with Uniform Dispersion

Carbonnanotubes(CNTs)areattractingmuchinterestasfibrousmaterialsforreinforcingmetalmatrixcompositesduetotheirremarkablepropertiessuchasveryhighstrength,elasticmodulus,flexibilityandhighaspectratios.However,duetotheintricateentanglementsof longandfine CNTs and resulting aggregation, disentanglement and uniform dispersion of CNTs in aluminium (Al) matrices have been found quitedifficult. In addition, the poor wetting property of carbon for Al has been a great obstacle to forming composites. On a totally new principle, wesucceeded in producing nano-scale composites in which carbon nanotubes were uniformly dispersed in Al matrices. We named this methodNano-Scale Dispersion (NSD) method, which can also be employed to disperse various fillers such as whiskers, ceramic fibres, and powders inmetalmatrices as well as Al.Thecompositesobtainedwerefound tobe highlyreinforcedandnot tomelt at a temperaturefarabovethe meltingpoint of Al. Here we report the procedure of their fabrication and mechanical properties.(Received October 10, 2003; Accepted January 7, 2004)Keywords: nano-composites, metal matrix composites, light metals, carbon nanotubes, aluminium, uniform dispersion, reinforcement