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Abstract Graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) exhibit ultra‐high strength and elastic modulus. Therefore, they are potential ideal reinforcements in metal–matrix composites (MMCs). In this work, we report the use of GNPs to strengthen the bulk Cu‐matrix composites. GNP reinforced Cu‐matrix (GNP/Cu) composites were prepared by a combination of the ball milling and hot‐pressing processing, and their mechanical properties were investigated. Microstructure studies indicated that the GNPs with 0–8 vol.% contents were well dispersed in the Cu matrix by ball milling. Compared to unreinforced Cu, the GNP/Cu composites showed a remarkable increase in yield strength and Young's modulus up to 114 and 37% at 8 vol.% GNP content, respectively. The extraordinary reinforcement is attributed to the homogeneous dispersion of GNPs and grain refinement. However, the mechanical improvement of GNP/Cu composites was still below the theoretical value. The possible reasons for this deviation were discussed and the methods for further mechanical improvement of GNP/Cu composites were proposed.
Chu et al. (Mon,) studied this question.