Corrosion studies of aluminium-6061 metal matrix reinforced with multiwall carbon nanotubes composites

Development of Metal matrix composites using Carbon nanotubes as the reinforcement it possess excellent material properties with improved strength. The evenly distributed CNTs in the Al Matrix is the critical phenomenon in the enhancement of the properties. Through ball milling the uniform dispersion of the reinforcements is been achieved. The composites are known for the low weight, high strength, better corrosion resistant, high impact strength, enhanced stiffness and toughness which require negligible maintenance and survive for long durability. In the present work, high-energy ball milling is accomplished to disperse the MWCNTs up to 2wt% in an Al-6061 matrix. Al-CNT composite was prepared using Hydraulic press with double punch die and sintered in muffle furnace. The reinforcements were added to the base material with different wt% like0, 1, 1.5 and 2 through powder metallurgy procedure, the corrosion studies were conducted as per the Mass loss technique and using spray technique, over a period of 24hrs, 48hrs, and 72hrs. In this work the CNTs used as reinforcement with varying weight % of 1,1.5,2 and Al6061 alloy as a matrix material. The composites were fabricated through powder metallurgy route. Ball milling was done to get homogeneous dispersion of CNT’s. Samples prepared as per ASTM E9 standard for various compositions and investigated for microstructure using scanning Electron microscopy (SEM). The observations were made in the gaps of 24, 48,72hrs and obtained the mass loss data in each day. Later the corrosion rate was calculated. The corroded specimens were then analyzed using SEM. The results revealed that as the wt% of the MWCNTs was increased the Corrosion rate was found to be decreased.