A Study On Preparing Titanium Metal Matrix Composites With...

I. INTRODUCTION Many engineering applications in the field of aerospace engineering, automobiles, electronic equipment etc. require very light material with good mechanical properties. Titanium based metal matrix composites with carbon nanotube reinforcement can be a solution for such applications. It can satisfy the requirement of light weight with very good strength. This study focuses on preparing titanium metal matrix composites with CNT reinforcements for various compositions for its mechanical properties. Ti alloys have been widely used as structural materials in aeronautical industries due to their attractive comprehensive properties, such as low density, high strength, ductility, toughness and resistance to fatigue. Observations on the MA behaviour of CNT–Ti powder mixtures in this study showed that addition of CNTs alters the grinding behaviour of Ti powders, which typically agglomerates in ball milling, and that the MA process itself is also affected by the type of CNTs incorporated. While all types of the CNTs, namely SWCNTs, DWCNTs, and MWCNTs, functioned as grinding aid preventing agglomeration of Ti particles, only the MWCNTs seem to have uniformly embedded into the Ti particles whereas SWCNTs and DWCNTs were supposedly not dispersed fully within the matrix. These variations in MA behavior, dependent on the types of CNTs, are ascribed to the morphological characteristics of each CNT type such as overall shape, number of carbon walls, and diameter, and specific