Preparation and dispersion of multi-walled carbon nanotubes in Ti6Al4V metal matrix powders

This study investigated the preparation and dispersion of graphitized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) into Ti6Al4V metal matrix powders. As-received MWCNTs powder was subjected to graphitization treatment for 5 h at 1800 °C in a vacuum atmosphere. 0, 1, 2 and 3 wt. % of the graphitized MWCNTs were dispersed by high energy ball milling (HEBM) into the Ti6Al4V matrices. The milled composite powders were thereafter characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques respectively. The results showed the optimized HEBM technique that was used for the MWCNTs dispersion achieved a relative homogeneous dispersion of the reinforcement powder into Ti6Al4V. There was minimal damage to the MWCNTs during the dispersion processing by milling, as interfacial reactions between defective MWCNTs and the metal matrix was effectively controlled.