U.S. patent application number 14/490481 was filed with the patent office on 2015-10-15 for nanocarbon-reinforced aluminium composite materials and method for manufacturing the same.
The applicant listed for this patent is Hyundai Motor Company. Invention is credited to Jong Kook LEE, Byung Ho MIN, Dong Hoon NAM.
Application Number | 20150292070 14/490481 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 54193301 |
Filed Date | 2015-10-15 |
United States Patent
Application |
20150292070 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
NAM; Dong Hoon ; et
al. |
October 15, 2015 |
NANOCARBON-REINFORCED ALUMINIUM COMPOSITE MATERIALS AND METHOD FOR
MANUFACTURING THE SAME
Abstract
A nanocarbon-reinforced aluminum composite material and a method
of manufacturing the same are provided. The method of manufacturing
a nanocarbon-reinforced aluminum composite material is
characterized in that composite powder, in which ceramic-coated
nanocarbon is surrounded by metal powder, is added to molten
aluminum and then casting the molten aluminum with the added
composite powder.
Inventors: |
NAM; Dong Hoon; (Uiwang-si,
KR) ; LEE; Jong Kook; (Suwon-si, KR) ; MIN;
Byung Ho; (Suwon-si, KR) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Hyundai Motor Company |
Seoul |
|
KR |
|
|
Family ID: |
54193301 |
Appl. No.: |
14/490481 |
Filed: |
September 18, 2014 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
420/528 ; 164/75;
164/97 |
Current CPC
Class: |
C22C 21/00 20130101;
C22C 1/1042 20130101; B22F 2998/10 20130101; B22D 19/0081 20130101;
C22C 32/0084 20130101; C22C 1/101 20130101; B22F 2998/10 20130101;
C22C 2026/002 20130101; C22C 26/00 20130101; C22C 1/101 20130101;
C22C 1/1084 20130101; C22C 1/1042 20130101; B22D 19/14
20130101 |
International
Class: |
C22C 49/06 20060101
C22C049/06; B22D 19/00 20060101 B22D019/00; C22C 32/00 20060101
C22C032/00; C22C 47/04 20060101 C22C047/04; C22C 47/08 20060101
C22C047/08; B22D 19/14 20060101 B22D019/14; C22C 21/00 20060101
C22C021/00 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Apr 14, 2014 |
KR |
10-2014-0044439 |
Claims
1. A method of manufacturing a nanocarbon-reinforced aluminum
composite material, comprising: adding composite powder, in which
ceramic-coated nanocarbon is surrounded by metal powder, to molten
aluminum; and casting the molten aluminum with the added composite
powder.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising steps of: prior to
adding the composite powder to molten aluminum and casting the
molten aluminum with the added composite powder, coating nanocarbon
with ceramic; and mixing the ceramic-coated nanocarbon with metal
powder to prepare the composite powder such that the ceramic-coated
nanocarbon is surrounded by the metal powder.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein the nanocarbon includes at least
one selected from the group consisting of carbon nanotube, carbon
nanofiber, and graphene; and the ceramic includes at least one
selected from the group consisting of oxide, carbide, nitride, and
boride.
4. The method of claim 3, wherein the metal powder is aluminum or a
metal alloyed with the aluminum or reacted with the aluminum to
form an intermetallic compound.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the ceramic-coated nanocarbon is
mixed with the metal powder by ball milling such that the
ceramic-coated nanocarbon is surrounded by the metal powder.
6. A nanocarbon-reinforced aluminum composite material,
manufactured by adding composite powder, in which ceramic-coated
nanocarbon is surrounded by metal powder, to molten aluminum, and
then casting the molten aluminum with the added composite powder.
Description
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] The present application claims the benefit of priority to
Korean Patent Application No. 10-2014-0044439, filed on Apr. 14,
2014, the entire contents of which is incorporated herein for all
purposes by this reference.
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0002] The present disclosure relates to a nanocarbon-reinforced
aluminum composite material and a method of manufacturing the same.
More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a
nanocarbon-reinforced aluminum composite material, wherein the
reaction between nanocarbon and liquid aluminum is controlled and
the dispersibility of nanocarbon in aluminum is improved, and to a
method of manufacturing the same.
BACKGROUND
[0003] A carbon nanotube is a tubular carbon nanomaterial having a
diameter of several nanometers (nm) to several tens of nanometers
(nm).
[0004] It is well known that a carbon nanotube has excellent
mechanical properties, such as high strength, a high elastic
modulus, low density, a high aspect ratio, etc. Therefore, research
into the application of carbon nanotubes to structural materials,
that is, reinforcing materials, such as polymer-metal matrix
composite materials and the like, has been actively conducted.
[0005] In the manufacture of a carbon nanotube-metal nanocomposite
material, a powder metallurgy process of mixing carbon nanotubes
with metal powder to prepare carbon nanotube-metal composite powder
and then sintering this composite powder is generally used. In the
powder metallurgy process, carbon nanotubes are mixed with metal
powder by ball milling or the like, and then the mixture is
sintered.
[0006] However, carbon nanotubes are strongly agglomerated by the
Van der Waals force acting therebetween, and thus it is very
difficult to uniformly disperse them in a metal matrix material.
Further, the difference in density between carbon nanotubes and a
metal matrix material makes the dispersion of carbon nanotubes
difficult.
[0007] Further, since the agglomerated carbon nanotubes are not
easily sintered, the density is low, and the characteristics of a
composite material are poor. Further, when carbon nanotubes are
mixed with metal powder, such as titanium powder, and then
sintered, carbide, such as titanium carbide (TiC), is produced, and
thus excellent reinforcing effects attributable to original carbon
nanotubes are not achieved.
[0008] In particular, when a nanocarbon-reinforced aluminum
composite material is manufactured using carbon nanotubes by a
casting process, there is a problem in that the production of
carbide by the reaction of nanocarbon and liquid aluminum must be
prevented. Therefore, a method of coating nanocarbon with metal or
ceramic has been done in order to solve the above problem. However,
this method is also problematic in that the nanocarbon is damaged
by the reaction of a metal coating layer with aluminum, and in that
the dispersibility of nanocarbon is low because the wettability of
a ceramic coating layer to aluminum is low.
[0009] It is to be understood that the foregoing description is
provided to merely aid the understanding of the present invention,
and does not mean that the present invention falls under the
purview of the related art which was already known to those skilled
in the art.
SUMMARY
[0010] Accordingly, the present disclosure has been devised to
solve the above-mentioned problems. The present disclosure provides
a nanocarbon-reinforced aluminum composite material, wherein the
reaction between nanocarbon and liquid aluminum is controlled and
the dispersibility of nanocarbon in aluminum is improved, and a
method of manufacturing the same.
[0011] An aspect of the present disclosure provides a method of
manufacturing a nanocarbon-reinforced aluminum composite material
comprising adding composite powder, in which ceramic-coated
nanocarbon is surrounded by metal powder, to molten aluminum and
then casting the molten aluminum with the added composite
powder.
[0012] The method may include the steps of: coating nanocarbon with
ceramic; mixing the ceramic-coated nanocarbon with metal powder to
prepare composite powder such that the ceramic-coated nanocarbon is
surrounded by the metal powder; adding the composite powder to
molten aluminum; and casting the molten aluminum with the added
composite powder.
[0013] The nanocarbon may include at least one selected from the
group consisting of carbon nanotubes, carbon nanofiber, and
graphene. The ceramic may include at least one selected from the
group consisting of oxide, carbide, nitride, and boride.
[0014] The metal powder may be aluminum or a metal alloyed with the
aluminum or reacted with the aluminum to form an intermetallic
compound.
[0015] The ceramic-coated nanocarbon may be mixed with the metal
powder by ball milling such that the ceramic-coated nanocarbon is
surrounded by the metal powder.
[0016] Another aspect of the present disclosure provides a
nanocarbon-reinforced aluminum composite material, manufactured by
adding composite powder, in which ceramic-coated nanocarbon is
surrounded by metal powder, to molten aluminum and then casting the
molten aluminum with the added composite powder.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0017] The above and other objects, features and advantages of the
present invention will be more clearly understood from the
following detailed description taken in conjunction with the
accompanying drawings.
[0018] FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a process of
manufacturing a nanocarbon-reinforced aluminum composite material
according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;
[0019] FIG. 2 is a photograph showing carbon nanotubes coated with
titanium oxide (TiO.sub.2).
[0020] FIG. 3 is a photograph showing a nanocarbon-reinforced
aluminum composite material according to an embodiment of the
present disclosure.
[0021] FIG. 4 is a photograph showing a nanocarbon-reinforced
aluminum composite material of Comparative Example 1.
[0022] FIG. 5 is a photograph showing TiO.sub.2-coated carbon
nanotube-aluminum composite powder prepared by ball milling.
[0023] FIG. 6 is a graph showing a graphene coated with
Al.sub.2O.sub.3.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0024] Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present disclosure
will be described in detail with reference to the attached
drawings.
[0025] As shown in FIG. 1, the method of manufacturing a
nanocarbon-reinforced aluminum composite material according to the
present invention is characterized in that composite powder, in
which ceramic-coated nanocarbon is surrounded by metal powder, is
added to molten aluminum and then the molten aluminum with the
added composite powder is casted.
[0026] That is, ceramic applied on nanocarbon controls the reaction
between liquid aluminum and the nanocarbon, and the metal powder
improves the wettability of liquid aluminum, thereby improving both
thermal stability and dispersibility of nanocarbon in molten
aluminum.
[0027] Nanocarbon can greatly contribute to the realization of
high-functionalization, weight reduction, and miniaturization in
the fields of electric and electronic appliances, automobiles, and
the like in combination with existing metal materials because it
has high electrical conductivity, high thermal conductivity and
excellent mechanical properties. Therefore, in the present
invention, the above advantages are realized by surrounding
ceramic-coated nanocarbon with metal powder to prepare composite
powder, adding the composite powder to molten metal and then
casting the molten metal added with the composite powder.
[0028] The method of manufacturing a nanocarbon-reinforced aluminum
composite material can be embodied by the steps of: coating
nanocarbon with ceramic; mixing the ceramic-coated nanocarbon with
metal powder to prepare composite powder such that the
ceramic-coated nanocarbon is surrounded by the metal powder; adding
the composite powder to molten aluminum; and casting the molten
aluminum added with the composite powder.
[0029] Nanocarbon includes at least one selected from the group
consisting of carbon nanotubes, carbon nanofiber, and graphene. The
ceramic includes at least one selected from among oxide, carbide,
nitride, and boride. For example, nanocarbon may be coated with
metal powder by applying metal particles, such as copper, nickel or
the like, and heat-treating them under an oxygen atmosphere.
[0030] Besides copper and nickel, gold, silver, platinum, titanium,
zinc, manganese, and gallium may be used as metal powder. Thickness
of a ceramic coating layer may be adjusted in a range of 10 nm to 1
.mu.m. Further, ceramic coating may be performed by various
methods, such as electroless plating, sputtering, deposition,
chemical vapor deposition, and the like.
[0031] The ceramic coating may be performed such that ceramic
particles are uniformly distributed on the nanocarbon. This
uniformly ceramic-coated nanocarbon is surrounded by metal powder
to prepare composite powder.
[0032] The composite powder, in which ceramic-coated nanocarbon is
surrounded by metal powder, is mixed with molten aluminum, and then
this mixture is cast, to manufacture a nanocarbon-reinforced
aluminum composite material.
[0033] The metal powder may be aluminum or a metal alloyed with the
aluminum or reacted with the aluminum to form an intermetallic
compound. The ceramic-coated nanocarbon may be mixed with the metal
powder by ball milling.
[0034] Hereinafter, the present disclosure will be described in
more detail with reference to the following Examples.
Example 1
[0035] In order to manufacture a nanocarbon-reinforced aluminum
composite material of the present disclosure, carbon nanotubes
(CNTs) were coated with TiO.sub.2 using a sol-gel process (see FIG.
2).
[0036] 40 g of carbon nanotubes coated with TiO.sub.2 were mixed
with 160 g of aluminum powder by ball milling under the following
conditions, thereby preparing composite powder having a structure
in which carbon nanotubes are embedded in aluminum powder (see FIG.
5).
[0037] Raw material of ball: ZrO.sub.2
[0038] Size of ball: 5 mm
[0039] Weight ratio of ball to powder: 10:1
[0040] Milling rate: 600 rpm
[0041] Milling time: 2 hours
[0042] 200 g of the prepared composite powder was added to 800 g of
molten aluminum at 750.degree. C., mechanically stirred, and then
cast to manufacture a nanocarbon-reinforced aluminum composite
material. The agglomeration of nanocarbons was not seen in the
nanocarbon-reinforced aluminum composite material of Example 1 (see
FIG. 3).
Example 2
[0043] A nanocarbon-reinforced aluminum composite material was
manufactured in the same manner as in Example 1, after graphene was
coated with Al.sub.2O.sub.3 using a sol-gel process.
[0044] As shown in FIG. 6, the agglomeration of nanocarbons was not
seen in the nanocarbon-reinforced aluminum composite material of
Example 2.
Comparative Example 1
[0045] A nanocarbon-reinforced aluminum composite material was
manufactured in the same manner as in Example 1, except that carbon
nanotubes coated with TiO.sub.2 were used.
[0046] As shown in FIG. 4, it can be ascertained from the
nanocarbon-reinforced aluminum composite material of Comparative
Example 1 that carbon nanotubes coated with TiO.sub.2 were not
dispersed in molten aluminum by mechanical stirring because the
wettability of these carbon nanotubes to aluminum is low, and that
the agglomeration of nanocarbons was observed in the composite
material of Comparative Example 1.
[0047] As described above, according to the method of manufacturing
a nanocarbon-reinforced aluminum composite material of the present
disclosure, ceramic-coated nanocarbon is mixed with metal powder to
prepare composite powder, thus improving the dispersibility of
nanocarbon in aluminum while controlling the reaction between
nanocarbon and liquid aluminum.
[0048] The nanocarbon-reinforced aluminum composite material of the
present disclosure is advantageous in that the reaction between
nanocarbon and liquid aluminum can be controlled, and the
dispersibility of nanocarbon in aluminum can be improved.
[0049] Although the preferred embodiments of the present disclosure
have been disclosed for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the
art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and
substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope and
spirit of the disclosure as disclosed in the accompanying
claims.
* * * * *