Investigation of Microstructure, Hardness and Wear Behavior of Powder Metal Al 7020 / SiC / Nano Graphene Doped Hybrid Composites

Year 2025, Volume: 14 Issue: 3, 1534 - 1548, 30.09.2025

Alper Namalan , Hakan Gökmeşe , Ufuk Taşcı

https://doi.org/10.17798/bitlisfen.1670271

Abstract

Al 7020 aluminum alloy is mainly preferred in many engineering applications, especially in the aviation and space sectors. Nano graphene (Gr) particles were selected for the study due to their hybrid composite structure, microstructure, mechanical properties, lubrication properties, lightness, and small size compared to the matrix and reinforcement element. For this purpose, SiC and nanographene powder particles were added to the aluminum matrix as reinforcement phases in the study, and composite-hybrid test samples were produced. In the production of Al7020 powder metal matrix SiC/nanographene doped test samples, 10% SiC ceramic phase reinforcement by weight was applied to the matrix material at a fixed rate, and nanographene particle reinforcement was added at the rates of 0.25%, 0.50%, and 1.0%. The prepared matrix powder mixtures were mixed in a high-energy ball mill at 300 RPM and 240 minutes to ensure homogeneous distribution in terms of matrix/reinforcement. After mixing, the powder mixtures were compressed at room temperature using a pressing pressure of 650 MPa. The obtained raw density test samples were sintered at 600°C for 60 minutes under Argon gas flow. Thus, the effect of SiC-nano graphene reinforcement on density, microstructural, hardness, and wear (25N, 900m) results were evaluated. The pore amount increased in the samples containing reinforcement elements. The highest hardness value was 108.476 HBN in the sample containing Al-10%SiC-0.5%Gr.

Keywords

Al 7020 , SiC , Nano graphene , Microstructure , Hardness , Wear

Ethical Statement

The study is complied with research and publication ethics.

References

• U. Taşcı, T. A. Yılmaz, H. Karakoç, and Ş. Karabulut, “Enhancing wear resistance and mechanical behaviors of AA7020 alloys using hybrid Fe3O4-GNP reinforcement,” Lubricants, vol. 12, 2024. doi: 10.3390/lubricants12060215.
• T. A. Yılmaz, U. Taşci, A. U. Gökmen, and B. Bostan, “Investigation of wear and transverse rupture strength of AA2219/ZrO2/B4C hybrid composite materials prepared with 3D ball mixer and produced by spark plasma sintering,” Composite Interfaces, pp. 1–24, 2024. doi: 10.1080/09276440.2024.2434808.
• H. Yang, J. Sha, D. Zhao, F. He, Z. Ma, C. He, C. Shi, and N. Zhao, “Defects control of aluminum alloys and their composites fabricated via laser powder bed fusion: A review,” J. Mater. Process. Technol., vol. 319, p. 118064, 2023.
• S. Sukuroglu, “Characterization, corrosion, adhesion and wear properties of Al2O3 and Al2O3:TiB2 composite coating on Al 7075 aluminum alloy by one-step micro-arc oxidation method,” Mater. Today Commun., vol. 46, p. 112493, 2025.
• U. Taşcı, “Investigation of the effect of mechanical alloying on the wear behavior of AA7020/Fe3O4/GNP hybrid composite materials,” Gazi Univ. J. Sci. Part A Eng. Innov., vol. 11, pp. 814–825, 2024.
• Y. Yıldıran, E. Avcu, A. Şahin, S. Fidan, H. Yetiştiren, and T. Sınmazçelik, “Effect of particle impact angle, erodent particle size and acceleration pressure on the solid particle erosion behavior of 3003 aluminum alloy,” Acta Phys. Pol. A, vol. 125, pp. 523–525, 2014.
• S. K. Patel, R. Nateriya, B. Kuriachen, and V. P. Singh, “Slurry abrasive wear, microstructural and morphological analysis of titanium carbide and zirconium sand aluminium alloy (A5052) metal matrix composite,” Mater. Today Proc., vol. 5, pp. 19790–19798, 2018. doi: 10.1016/j.matpr.2018.06.342.
• M. Kumar, N. Sotirov, and C. M. Chimani, “Investigations on warm forming of AW-7020-T6 alloy sheet,” J. Mater. Process. Technol., vol. 214, pp. 1769–1776, 2014. doi: 10.1016/j.jmatprotec.2014.03.024.
• K. Zheng, X. Du, H. Qi, T. Zhao, F. Liu, and B. Sun, “Sliding-wear behavior of aluminum-matrix composites reinforced with graphene and SiC nanoparticles,” Mater. Technol., vol. 54, 2020.
• A. Kumar, S. Kumar, N. K. Mukhopadhyay, A. Yadav, V. Kumar, and J. Winczek, “Effect of variation of SiC reinforcement on wear behaviour of AZ91 alloy composites,” Materials (Basel), vol. 14, p. 990, 2021.
• R. A. M., M. Kaleemulla, S. Doddamani, and B. K. N., “Material characterization of SiC and Al2O3–reinforced hybrid aluminum metal matrix composites on wear behavior,” Adv. Compos. Lett., vol. 28, p. 0963693519856356, 2019.
• S. Swargo and S. Mia, “Reinforcing carbon nanotubes (CNT) into aluminum powder matrix as a nanocomposite coating with enhanced properties,” Next Mater., vol. 8, p. 100551, 2025.
• N. M. S. Kumar, G. K. Pramod, P. Samrat, and M. Sadashiva, “A critical review on heat treatment of aluminium alloys,” Mater. Today Proc., vol. 58, pp. 71–79, 2022.
• M. Y. Zhou, L. B. Ren, L. L. Fan, Y. W. X. Zhang, T. H. Lu, G. F. Quan, and M. Gupta, “Progress in research on hybrid metal matrix composites,” J. Alloys Compd., vol. 838, p. 155274, 2020. doi: 10.1016/j.jallcom.2020.155274.
• Z. Özkan, H. Gökmeşe, and U. Gökmen, “Investigation of the microstructure-hardness and wear performances of hybrid/composite materials Al2O3/SiC particle reinforced in AA 7075 matrix,” Sci. Sinter., vol. 54, 2022.
• S. Sundaraselvan, K. Rajkumar, S. Sathish, and B. M. R. Bharathi, “Experimental investigation of dispersion effect of TiCP on mechanical and tribological behaviour on LM25 aluminum-fly ash hybrid composites,” Russ. J. Non-Ferrous Met., vol. 65, pp. 207–214, 2024.
• G. Keskin, G. Küçüktürk, M. Pul, H. Gürün, and V. Baydaroğlu, “AA7075 matrisli B4C+ SiC takviyeli hibrit kompozitlerin toz takviyeli EEİ yöntemiyle işlenmesinde boşalım akımı ve takviye oranının işlenmiş yüzeyin mikroyapısı ve pürüzlülüğüne etkisi,” Int. J. Eng. Res. Dev., vol. 13, pp. 489–495, 2021.
• H. Gökmeşe and B. Bostan, “AA 2014 alaşımında presleme ve sinterlemenin gözenek morfolojisi ve mikroyapısal özelliklere etkileri,” Gazi Univ. J. Sci. Part C Des. Technol., vol. 1, pp. 1–8, 2013.
• İ. Şimşek, M. Yıldırım, D. Özyürek, and D. Şimşek, “Basınçsız infiltrasyon yöntemiyle üretilen SiO2 takviyeli alüminyum kompozitlerin aşınma davranışlarının incelenmesi,” Politek. Derg., vol. 22, pp. 81–85, 2019.
• A. T. Alpas and J. Zhang, “Effect of SiC particulate reinforcement on the dry sliding wear of aluminium-silicon alloys (A356),” Wear, vol. 155, pp. 83–104, 1992.
• D. Özyürek, A. Kalyon, M. Yıldırım, T. Tuncay, and I. Ciftci, “Experimental investigation and prediction of wear properties of Al/SiC metal matrix composites produced by thixomoulding method using artificial neural networks,” Mater. Des., vol. 63, pp. 270–277, 2014.
• M. Pul, “The effect of B4C and GNP reinforcement amounts on abrasive wear behavior in Al 6061/B4C/GNP hybrid composites,” Niğde Ömer Halisdemir Univ. J. Eng. Sci., vol. 11, no. 4, pp. 1179–1187, 2022.
• R. Harichandran and N. Selvakumar, “Effect of nano/micro B4C particles on the mechanical properties of aluminium metal matrix composites fabricated by ultrasonic cavitation-assisted solidification process,” Arch. Civ. Mech. Eng., vol. 16, pp. 147–158, 2016.
• D. Özyürek, T. Tunçay, and H. Kaya, “The effects of T5 and T6 heat treatments on wear behaviour of AA6063 alloy,” High Temp. Mater. Process., vol. 33, pp. 231–237, 2014.
• H. Jagadeesh, P. Banakar, P. Sampathkumaran, R. R. N. Sailaja, and J. K. Katiyar, “Influence of nanographene filler on sliding and abrasive wear behaviour of bi-directional carbon fiber reinforced epoxy composites,” Tribol. Int., vol. 192, p. 109196, 2024.
• M. A. Alam, H. B. Ya, M. Azeem, M. Mustapha, M. Yusuf, F. Masood, R. V. Marode, S. M. Sapuan, A. H. Ansari, “Advancements in aluminum matrix composites reinforced with carbides and graphene: A comprehensive review,” Nanotechnol. Rev., vol. 12, p. 20230111, 2023.