Investigating the influence of ZnO, CuO, Al2O3 reinforcing nanoparticles on strength and wearing properties of aluminum matrix nanocomposites produced by powder metallurgy process

Nanocomposites are materials which their mechanical properties change with adding nanoparticles. In this study, aluminum matrix nanocomposite samples reinforced by ZnO, CuO, Al2O3 were produced. In order to investigate the effects of these reinforcing nanoparticles on mechanical properties of aluminum, some samples by adding them with different weight percent, separately and mixed, to the aluminum were produced by powder metallurgy process. First, the powders have been mixed together and then compressed at the pressure of 600 MPa. Next, they were sintered in a furnace in argon gas atmosphere at temperature 550 C for 2 h. The density of all samples were calculated and also to investigate the strength and wear properties, microhardness, flexural strength, as well as pin on disk wear tests were done. Also, SEM imaging was performed for powders, the fracture cross section and worn surface of samples. The results indicated an overall improvement for mechanical properties of nanocomposite samples compared to the pure aluminum sample. Since Al2O3 nanoparticles have improved strength compared to other nanoparticles, samples containing this type of nanoparticles show better strength and wearing properties. The best results belong to samples containing %6 wt.Al2O3, which have improved hardness and wear resistance compared to pure aluminum samples by %60 and %70, respectively.

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