Effects of graphene addition on the microstructure of 7075Al

Abstract

In this paper, the effect of the addition of graphene on the as-cast and homogenized annealing microstructure of 7075 aluminum alloy (AlZnMgCu) was studied. The analytical model devised in this study has demonstrated the significant grain refinement of graphene-7075 aluminium matrix composites (G-7075) due to large surface area of graphene. The results showed that the as-cast microstructure of graphene-7075 aluminum matrix composite was refined significantly, which the average grain size of the composite decreased from 78 μ m to 45 μ m and lattice distortion is more significant. The effect of the dissolution of the non-equilibrium eutectic structure and the secondary phase distribution of the graphene-7075 aluminum matrix composite is better after annealing at 470 °C for 16 hours.

Keywords

• 7075 aluminum alloy
• graphene
• As-cast microstructure
• grain refinement