Processing of Carbon Nanotube Reinforced Aluminum Composite

Carbon nanotube reinforced aluminum (Al) composites were produced by hot-press and hot-extrusion methods. The interfacial structure between the carbon nanotube and Al was examined using a transmission electron microscope (TEM), and the mechanical properties were measured by a tensile test. TEM observations have shown that the nanotubes in the composites are not damaged during the composite preparation and that no reaction products at the nanotube/Al interface are visible after annealing for 24 h at 983 K. The strength of the composites is only slightly affected by the annealing time at 873 K, while that of the pure Al produced in a similar powder metallurgy process significantly decreases with time. These studies are considered to yield experimental information valuable for producing high performance composites.