Graphene oxide decorated spherical powder for Ni superalloy with high yield strength and ductility

Graphene and its analogous 2D nanomaterials demonstrate high potential as reinforcements in bulk metallic materials with high performance, but homogenous dispersion within metal matrices remains considerable challenging. Here we report the successful fabrication of Ni superalloys from graphene oxide (GO)-decorated spherical Ni superalloy powder. The GO-reinforced Ni superalloys show an exceptional combination of yield strength and tensile ductility. The high yield strength arises from collective effects of specific microstructures, including good interfacial bonding between GO and the matrix, uniformly-distributed precipitates, and GO-induced twin boundaries. The good ductility is attributed to a sustainable work hardening ability of GO-reinforced Ni superalloys by the addition of GO, enhanced by and dislocation-precipitate interaction and stacking fault hardening mechanisms. This work reveals a novel strategy to obtain GO reinforced metallic materials with high strength and high ductility.