Microstructures and Mechanical Properties of Powder Metallurgy Pure Ti Composite Reinforced with Carbon Nanotubes

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Powder metallurgy (P/M) titanium matrix composite (TMC) reinforced with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) was prepared by spark plasma sintering (SPS) and a subsequent hot extrusion process. The un-bundled CNTs were coated on the pure titanium powder surface by the zwitterionic surfactant solution of the wet process. The microstructure and mechanical properties of P/M pure titanium materials and those reinforced with CNTs were evaluated. The microstructure and synthesized compound in solid-state sintering were investigated by optical and scanning electron microscopy equipped with an EDS analyzer. The mechanical properties of TMC were significantly improved by the addition of CNTs. For example, when employing fine pure titanium powder as raw material, P/M titanium extruded material with 0.37mass% showed excellent tensile properties such as 742 MPa UTS, 592 MPa YS and 26% elongation compared to P/M wrought titanium with no CNT having 585 MPa UTS, 423 MPa YS and 30% elongation. Fractured surfaces of tensile specimens were analyzed by scanning electron microscope, and revealed a uniform distribution of CNTs and TiC particles of the composite.