Aluminum matrix composites reinforced with multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) are promising materials for applications in various high-tech industries. Control over the processes of interfacial interaction in Al/MWCNT composites is important to achieve a high level of mechanical properties. The present study describes the effects of coating MWCNTs with titanium carbide nanoparticles on the formation of mechanical properties and the evolution of the reinforcement structure in bulk aluminum matrix nanocomposites with low concentrations of MWCNTs under conditions of solid-phase consolidation of ball-milled powder mixtures. Using high-energy ball milling and uniaxial hot pressing, two types of bulk nanocomposites based on aluminum alloy AA5049 that were reinforced with microadditions of MWCNTs and MWCNTs coated with TiC nanoparticles were successfully produced. The microstructural and mechanical properties of the Al/MWCNT composites were investigated. The results showed that, on the one hand, the TiC nanoparticles on the surface of the MWCNT hybrid reinforcement reduced the damage of reinforcement under the intense exposure of milling bodies, and on the other hand, they reduced the contact area of the MWCNTs with the matrix material (acting as a barrier interface), which also locally inhibited the reaction between the matrix and the MWCNTs.
Keywords: MWCNTs; aluminum matrix nanocomposites; interface; mechanical properties; microstructure; powder metallurgy; titanium carbides.