GRAPHENE REINFORCED ALUMINUM MATRIX COMPOSITE WITH HIGH ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY AND PREPARATION METHOD THEREOF

Abstract

A graphene reinforced aluminum matrix composite with high electrical conductivity and a preparation method thereof. The method includes: obtaining aluminum coated graphene powder by plating aluminum on a graphene surface, melting aluminum block into aluminum liquid, heating a mold to be lower than an aluminum melting point, alternately pouring the aluminum liquid and the aluminum coated graphene powder into the mold for layered casting to obtain a sandwich structure; extruding the sandwich structure into a rectangular test block and then heating to 500˜600° C., performing heat preservation for a preset time and performing forging treatment, and performing longitudinal cold deformation under inert gas to obtain the graphene reinforced aluminum matrix composite. The method can solve a problem that poor wettability of graphene and aluminum matrix, the graphene is evenly dispersed in the aluminum matrix, which can improve strength of the aluminum matrix and keep its high electrical conductivity.

Claims

1. A preparation method of a graphene reinforced aluminum matrix composite, comprising: preparation of raw materials, comprising: drying graphene, aluminum powder and aluminum block in a drying oven to remove moisture; obtaining aluminum coated graphene powder by plating the aluminum powder on a surface of the graphene through electroless plating; melting the aluminum block into aluminum liquid in a crucible furnace and injecting first inert gas for protection; heating a forming device to a temperature lower than a melting point of aluminum; alternately pouring the aluminum liquid into the forming mold of the forming device to form an aluminum liquid solidification layer and laying a layer of the aluminum coated graphene powder on the aluminum liquid solidification layer to form an aluminum coated graphene powder layer until the forming mold is fully filled, thereby forming a sandwich structure with a first layer and a last layer both being the aluminum liquid solidification layers; extruding the sandwich structure into a rectangular test block by using a press; heating the rectangular test block to a temperature in a range of 500° C. to 600° C. in a heating furnace and performing heat preservation for a preset time, and performing forging treatment on the rectangular test block to obtain a forged rectangular test block; after cooling the forged rectangular test block to room temperature, performing longitudinal cold deformation on the forged rectangular test block to obtain a deformed rectangular test block; and performing annealing treatment on the deformed rectangular test block under a protection of second inert gas to obtain the graphene reinforced aluminum matrix composite.

2. The preparation method of the graphene reinforced aluminum matrix composite according to claim 1, wherein the plating the aluminum powder on a surface of the graphene through electroless plating, comprises: after the graphene is coarsened, sensitized and activated, plating the aluminum powder on the surface of the graphene through the electroless plating in an aluminum liquid at room temperature.

3. The preparation method of the graphene reinforced aluminum matrix composite according to claim 1, wherein a heating temperature of the crucible furnace is in a range of 700° C. to 800° C.

4. The preparation method of the graphene reinforced aluminum matrix composite according to claim 1, wherein each of the first inert gas and the second inert gas is one of argon gas and helium gas.

5. The preparation method of the graphene reinforced aluminum matrix composite according to claim 1, wherein a heating temperature of the forming device is in a range of 250° C. to 350° C.

6. The preparation method of the graphene reinforced aluminum matrix composite according to claim 1, wherein a number of the aluminum coated graphene powder layer of the sandwich structure is greater than or equal to 2, content of the aluminum coated graphene powder layers are evenly distributed according to a total content, a thickness of the aluminum coated graphene powder layer is less than 10 μm, and a thickness of the aluminum liquid solidification layer is less than 3 mm.

7. The preparation method of the graphene reinforced aluminum matrix composite according to claim 1, wherein the preset time is in a range of 25 min to 35 min, and a forging direction of the forging treatment is crisscross.

8. The preparation method of the graphene reinforced aluminum matrix composite according to claim 1, wherein a deformation amount of the longitudinal cold deformation of the forged rectangular test block is in a range of 40% to 60%.

9. The preparation method of the graphene reinforced aluminum matrix composite according to claim 1, wherein a temperature of the annealing treatment is in a range of 200° C. to 300° C., and a time in a furnace during the annealing treatment is in a range of 30 min to 60 min.

10. A graphene reinforced aluminum matrix composite, prepared by the preparation method according to claim 1.

11. The graphene reinforced aluminum matrix composite according to claim 10, wherein the plating the aluminum powder on a surface of the graphene through electroless plating, comprises: after the graphene is coarsened, sensitized and activated, plating the aluminum powder on the surface of the graphene through the electroless plating in an aluminum liquid at room temperature.

12. The graphene reinforced aluminum matrix composite according to claim 10, wherein a heating temperature of the crucible furnace is in a range of 700° C. to 800° C.

13. The graphene reinforced aluminum matrix composite according to claim 10, wherein each of the first inert gas and the second inert gas is one of argon gas and helium gas.

14. The graphene reinforced aluminum matrix composite according to claim 10, wherein a heating temperature of the forming device is in a range of 250° C. to 350° C.

15. The graphene reinforced aluminum matrix composite according to claim 10, wherein a number of the aluminum coated graphene powder layer of the sandwich structure is greater than or equal to 2, content of the aluminum coated graphene powder layers are evenly distributed according to a total content, a thickness of the aluminum coated graphene powder layer is less than 10 μm, and a thickness of the aluminum liquid solidification layer is less than 3 mm.

16. The graphene reinforced aluminum matrix composite according to claim 10, wherein the preset time is in a range of 25 min to 35 min, and a forging direction of the forging treatment is crisscross.

17. The graphene reinforced aluminum matrix composite according to claim 10, wherein a deformation amount of the longitudinal cold deformation of the forged rectangular test block is in a range of 40% to 60%.

18. The graphene reinforced aluminum matrix composite according to claim 10, wherein a temperature of the annealing treatment is in a range of 200° C. to 300° C., and a time in a furnace during the annealing treatment is in a range of 30 min to 60 min.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

[0040] The disclosure is described in detail below:

[0041] Table 1 is a list of values of embodiments 1-5 and comparative embodiments 1 and 2.

[0042] Table 2 is a list of performance tests of the embodiments 1-5 and the comparative embodiments 1 and 2.

[0043] Each embodiment of the disclosure is prepared according to the following steps:

[0044] (1) drying raw materials in a drying oven for 2 hours to remove moisture, the raw materials include graphene, aluminum powder and aluminum block;

[0045] (2) after the graphene is coarsened, sensitized and activated, plating the aluminum powder on a surface of the graphene through electroless plating in aluminum liquid at a room temperature;

[0046] (3) heating the aluminum block to be in the range of 700° C. to 800° C. to melt, and injecting inert gas for protection;

[0047] (4) heating a forming mold to 300° C.;

[0048] (5) alternately pouring the aluminum liquid into the forming mold to form an aluminum liquid solidification layer and laying a layer of the aluminum coated graphene powder on the aluminum liquid solidification layer to form an aluminum coated graphene powder layer until the forming mold is fully filled, thereby forming a sandwich structure with a first layer and a last layer both being the aluminum liquid solidification layers;

[0049] (6) extruding the sandwich structure into a rectangular test block in a rectangular mold by using a press, and then cooling the rectangular test block to room temperature;

[0050] (7) heating the rectangular test block to 550° C. in a heating furnace and performing heat preservation for 30 min, and performing forging treatment on the rectangular test block for 10 min to obtain a forged rectangular test block;

[0051] (8) performing 50% longitudinal cold deformation on the forged rectangular test block to obtain a deformed rectangular test block (i.e., treated sample)

[0052] (9) cutting the treated sample into required sizes to obtain cut samples;

[0053] (10) obtaining the aluminum matrix composite with high strength, high electrical conductivity and wear resistance by annealing the cut samples at 240° C. for 40 min in a furnace and air cooling to room temperature.

[0054] The five embodiments and the two comparative embodiments respectively prepare the graphene reinforced aluminum matrix composites with high electrical conductivity of the disclosure by selecting different material components and processes. The proportions of the components are shown in Table 1.

TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 chemical components and processes of the embodiments and the comparative embodiments of the disclosure the number of deformation aluminum coated amount of temperature of graphene powder time of the longitudinal cold the annealing/ embodiment C/wt % Al/wt % layer forging/min deformation/% ° C. 1 1.50 Rest 3 15 60 200 2 1.70 Rest 4 12 56 220 3 1.90 Rest 5 9 50 250 4 2.00 Rest 3 10 45 280 5 2.50 Rest 6 8 42 300 Comparative 1 0.03 Rest 0 0 60 300 Comparative 2 2.00 Rest 3 0 — —

TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 list of performance results of the embodiments and the comparative embodiments of the disclosure Tensile Electrical Embodiment strength/MPa conductivity/% IACS 1 130 61 2 132 61 3 140 60 4 137 60 5 132 61 Comparative 1 72 62 Comparative 2 89 60

[0055] It can be seen from Table 2 that the aluminum carbon composites of the five embodiments prepared by the disclosure have the same electrical conductivity as the pure aluminum materials on the premise of improving the strength.

[0056] The above embodiments are only used to illustrate the disclosure and not to limit the disclosure. Although the disclosure has been described in detail with reference to the embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that any combination, amendment, or equivalent replacement of the technical scheme of the disclosure does not deviate from the spirit and scope of the technical scheme of the disclosure, and all should be covered by the claims of the disclosure.