An Investigation into Mechanical Properties of Aluminum Matrix Nanocomposite Reinforced by Graphene–Boron Nitride Hybrid

Considering the widespread use of aluminum composites in various industries, aluminum-based nanocomposite samples reinforced with various percentages of graphene-BN hybrid powder were fabricated in this study. Initially, the graphene-BN hybrid was prepared and later subjected to wet milling together with aluminum powder. The final composite mixtures were consolidated using spark plasma sintering (SPS) method. Using this method, aluminum-based composite specimens containing 1 wt.% graphene–0 wt.% BN (AGB1), 0.95 wt.% graphene–0.05 wt.% BN (AGB2), 0.90 wt.% graphene–0.1 wt.% BN (AGB3), and 0.85 wt.% graphene–0.15 wt.% BN (AGB4) were prepared and compared with regard to their difference in mechanical properties. Hardness values of 48.1, 51.1, 56.2, 54.1, and 43.6 Hv were obtained for AGB0, AGB1, AGB2, AGB3, and AGB4, respectively. Additionally, tensile strengths of these specimens were 67.2, 102.1, 129.5, 123.7, and 114.7 MPa, respectively. Based upon the hardness and tensile test data, it was concluded that the AGB2 specimen had the highest tensile strength (93% higher than AGB0 and 27% higher than AGB1) and also higher hardness values (17% higher than AGB0 and 10% higher than AGB1).