Investigation on Properties of Al2O3/Carbon Nanotubes Nanocomposites

In this research, two types of nanocomposites containing alumina as matrix, SWCNTs and MWCNTs as reinforcements are prepared by spark plasma sintering method (SPS). In order to characterization of composites, SEM, XRD, bending strength, density and hardness tests were performed. The results show that MWCNTs have more effect on reinforcement of alumina in comparison to SWCNTs. Furthermore, the SEM images indicate that SWCNTs have more tendencies to agglomeration. The results of bending strength and hardness tests show that the composites reinforced by MWCNTs have higher bending strength and hardness in comparison to composites reinforced by SWCNTs. Comparing of the small crystallite sizes of Al2O3/CNTs composites prepared by SPS method confirmed that this is a fast sintering method.