Fabrication of robust aluminum–carbon nanotube composites using ultrasonic assembly and rolling process

This study introduced a novel fabrication of aluminum–carbon nanotube (CNT) composites by employing bulk acoustic waves and accumulative roll bonding (ARB). In this method, CNT particles were aligned using ultrasonic standing wave in an aqueous media, and the arrayed particles were precipitated on the aluminum plate substrate. Then, the plates rolled on each other through the ARB process with four passes. Optical and scanning electron micrographs demonstrated the effective aligning of CNTs on the aluminum substrate with a negligible deviation of arrayed CNTs through the ARB process. The X-ray diffraction pattern of the developed composites showed no peaks for carbon and aluminum carbide. In addition, tensile tests showed that the longitudinal strength of the specimens processed with aligned CNTs was significantly greater than that of the specimens with common randomly dispersed particles. The proposed technique is beneficial for the fabrication of Al–CNT composites with directional mechanical strength.