Simultaneously enhancing mechanical properties and electrical conductivity of aluminum by using graphene as the reinforcement

© 2020 Elsevier B.V. In this study, we demonstrated simultaneously enhanced mechanical properties and electrical conductivity of pure aluminum (Al) by incorporating graphene as the reinforcement. The graphene/Al nanocomposite was fabricated by friction stir processing (FSP) combined with hot extrusion. It was found that graphene was homogeneously dispersed into Al matrix and directly bonded graphene/Al interfaces were formed, which were the structure basis for the simultaneously improved electrical and mechanical properties. This study provides new strategy for fabricating high-strength and highly conductive graphene/Al nanocomposites.