Titanium Carbide Nanofibers-Reinforced Aluminum Compacts, a New Strategy to Enhance Mechanical Properties

Khalil Abdelrazek Khalil; El-Sayed M Sherif; A M Nabawy; Hany S Abdo; Wagih W Marzouk; Hamad F Alharbi

doi:10.3390/ma9050399

Titanium Carbide Nanofibers-Reinforced Aluminum Compacts, a New Strategy to Enhance Mechanical Properties

Materials (Basel). 2016 May 20;9(5):399. doi: 10.3390/ma9050399.

Authors

Khalil Abdelrazek Khalil^{1

2}, El-Sayed M Sherif^{3

4}, A M Nabawy⁵, Hany S Abdo^{6

7

8}, Wagih W Marzouk⁹, Hamad F Alharbi¹⁰

Affiliations

¹ Mechanical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, King Saud University, Al-Riyadh 11421, Saudi Arabia. [email protected].
² Mechanical Design and Materials Department, Faculty of Energy Engineering, Aswan University, Aswan 002097, Egypt. [email protected].
³ Center of Excellence for Research in Engineering Materials (CEREM), Advanced Manufacturing Institute, King Saud University, Al-Riyadh 11421, Saudi Arabia. [email protected].
⁴ Electrochemistry and Corrosion Laboratory, Department of Physical Chemistry, National Research Centre (NRC), Dokki, Cairo 12622, Egypt. [email protected].
⁵ Center of Excellence for Research in Engineering Materials (CEREM), Advanced Manufacturing Institute, King Saud University, Al-Riyadh 11421, Saudi Arabia. [email protected].
⁶ Mechanical Design and Materials Department, Faculty of Energy Engineering, Aswan University, Aswan 002097, Egypt. [email protected].
⁷ Center of Excellence for Research in Engineering Materials (CEREM), Advanced Manufacturing Institute, King Saud University, Al-Riyadh 11421, Saudi Arabia. [email protected].
⁸ Production Engineering and Design Department, Faculty of Engineering, Minia Universities, Minia 61111, Egypt. [email protected].
⁹ Production Engineering and Design Department, Faculty of Engineering, Minia Universities, Minia 61111, Egypt.
¹⁰ Mechanical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, King Saud University, Al-Riyadh 11421, Saudi Arabia. [email protected].

Abstract

TiC nanofibers reinforced Al matrix composites were produced by High Frequency Induction Heat Sintering (HFIHS).The titanium carbide nanofibers with an average diameter of 90 nm are first prepared by electrospinning technique and high temperature calcination process. A composite solution containing polyacrylonitrile and titanium isopropoxide is first electrospun into the nanofibers, which are subsequently stabilized and then calcined to produce the desired TiC nanofibers. The X-ray diffraction pattern and transmission electron microscopy results show that the main phase of the as-synthesized nanofibers is titanium carbide. The TiC nanofibers is then mixed with the aluminum powders and introduced into high frequency induction heat sintering (HFIHS) to produce composites of TiC nanofibers reinforced aluminum matrix. The potential application of the TiC nanofibers reinforced aluminum matrix composites was systematically investigated. 99.5% relative density and around 85 HV (833 MPa) Vickers hardness of the Al reinforced with 5 wt % TiC nanofiber has been obtained. Furthermore, the sample of Al contains 5 wt % TiC, has the highest value of compression and yield strength of about 415 and 350 MPa, respectively. The ductility of the Al/5 wt % TiC showed increasing with increasing the TiC contents.

Keywords: HFIHS; aluminium composites; nanofibers reienforcemnts; titanium carbide.