Novel Carbon-Aluminum Materials

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We characterized novel metal carbon materials called covetics. More specifically we study warm rolled Al 7075-carbon materials containing up to 5 wt% C. At macroscale we measured mechanical properties: Young’s modulus, ultimate tensile strength (UTS), 0.2% yield strength (YS), and tensile elongation at failure. At microscale, we measured local elastic moduli and hardness using nanoindentation and at mesoscale we conducted Rockwell and Vickers hardness tests. In parallel, we characterized the microstructure of these materials at different structural scales using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmision electron microscopy (TEM). The following enhancements in properties over the corresponding base materials were observed: 1. Higher strength (UTS, YS) 2. Higher hardness (Rockwell, Vickers and nanoindentation) 3. Larger elongation 4. Unusual fracture characteristics 5. Lower density In summary, the results show that Al 7075 covetics exhibit superior mechanical properties to the corresponding base metals, which makes them excellent candidates for range of engineering applications. This study complements our earlier results on covetics. Our current efforts are on exploring covetics for high voltage energy power transmission and high temperature applications.

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Journal: TechConnect Briefs
Volume: 1, Nanotechnology 2013: Advanced Materials, CNTs, Particles, Films and Composites (Volume 1)
Published: May 12, 2013
Pages: 27 - 30
Industry sector: Advanced Materials & Manufacturing
Topic: Materials Characterization & Imaging
ISBN: 978-1-4822-0581-7