Effect of milling time on microstructure of AA6061 composites fabricated via mechanical alloying

The aim of this work is to determine the effect of manufacturing conditions, especially milling time, on the microstructure and crystallite size of a newly developed nanostructural composite material with the aluminium alloy matrix reinforced with halloysite nanotubes. Halloysite, being a clayey mineral of volcanic origin, is characterized by high porosity and large specific surface area. Thus it can be used as an alternative reinforcement in metal matrix composite materials. In order to obtain this goal, composite powders with fine microstructures were fabricated using high-energy mechanical alloying, cold compacting and hot extrusion techniques. The obtained composite powders of aluminium alloy reinforced with 5, 10 and 15 wt% of halloysite nanotubes were characterized with SEM, TEM and XRD analysis. It has been proven that the use of mechanical alloying leads to a high degree of deformation, which, coupled with a decreased grain size below 100 nm and the dispersion of the refined reinforcing particles-reinforces the material very well.