Mechanical and conductivity properties of 6061Al matrix composites reinforced with different pH Cu-coated graphene

ABSTRACTThe lightweight designs of automobiles and space shuttles have raised the bar for aluminum (Al) and its alloys. Graphene (GP) has found widespread application in aluminum matrix composites due to its exceptional mechanical, electrical, and thermal properties. In this study, a successful preparation of 6061Al reinforced with GP was achieved through a powder metallurgy method. This involved mixing GP with 6061Al alloy powders via ball milling, followed by hot-pressing sintering to produce the final GP-reinforced Al alloy nanocomposite. The effect of the pH value of the plating solution on the electroless plating of GP has been studied for the first time. The results show that the strength of the aluminum-matrix composites with copper plating has been significantly improved compared with that of the composites without copper plating. When the pH value of the plating solution is 12, the tensile strength of the composites obtained has been increased by 60.41%. Compared with the matrix material, the conductivity of the composite material has also increased. This work shows that the mechanical behavior of graphene-reinforced metal matrix composites (MMCs) can be improved by adjusting the distribution of graphene coatings, which is of great benefit for the preparation of high strength and lightweight composites with good electrical conductivity.KEYWORDS: Metal-matrix composites (MMCs)mechanical propertiesCu-coated graphene AcknowledgementsThis work was supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, 2682021GF021 and the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Study on Theory and Method of Lightweight of Traction Transformer for High-speed Electric Multiple Units, U1834203.Disclosure statementThe authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.Supplementary materialSupplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/09276440.2023.2287330.Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [2682021GF021]; National Natural Science Foundation of China [U1834203].