Investigation of addition of CNT and Sintering Process on microstructure and mechanical properties of Al-Si3N4-CNT nano Copmposite

In this research, we investigated the effect of addition of carbon nanotube (CNT) and sintering processes on mechanical properties of Al- Si3N4 composites. For this purpose difference samples including 5, 10and 15 wt% of Si3N4 with and without 0.25 wt% CNT were fabricated. Samples were sintered via microwave and spark plsma sintering (SPS) methods. Sintering of samples were done at 400°C and 600, 700, 800 °C for spark plasma sinterng process and microwave, respectively. The results showed that the bending strength of samples including 15% Si3N4 with and without CNT that sintered in microwave have maximum value 179 MPa and 212 MPa respectively. Also the bending strength of samples including 15% Si3N4 with and without CNT that sintered in SPS have maximum value 249 MPa and 285 MPa respectively and these samples have higher density than other samples.Also, results showed that the samples that sintered in sps had maximum density and uniformity structure.