Research, Experimentation, and Fabrication of Aluminum Matrix and Carbon Nanutubes Reinforcement Composite Material

Basel ElThalathiny was one among a group of 6 undergraduate students who conducted this research project in order to enhance the Mech. Properties of the Aluminum by adding Carbon nano-tubes Reinforcement. The procedure followed was simply making a powder mixture of Aluminum & CNT using Ball Milling technique, then forming a bulk material by hot compaction & hot extrusion. Finally, the obtained specimens were tested in order to investigate the effect of adding different compositions of CNT and different milling times on the Mech. Prop. of the obtained composite. The different combinations of CNT% & milling time were selected according to a proper design of experiment, and finally, the obtained results were analyzed using the ANNOVA technique. The results of the project show that the Ball Milling is a better technique than the turbula mixer regarding the distribution of CNT in the Aluminum matrix. The addition of CNT to the Aluminum resulted in increasing the strength of the composite compared to the pure Aluminum alone. Also, the composite containing 2% CNT and milled for 6 hrs. gave the best results concerning the Mech. Prop. studied.