Effect of Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes on the Microhardness of Iron-Copper Nanocomposites

The paper examines the dependence of the microhardness of nanocomposites of iron and copper (Fe-Cu) on the time of processing in a planetary ball mill (20 min, 60 min, 120 min) and the influence of multi-walled carbon nanotubes on the Fe-CU nanocomposites microhardness. To determine the microhardness, a multifunctional micro-nanoindentometer “Micron-gamma” was used. The research was carried out on samples of Fe-Cu nanocomposites with Fe: Cu = 4:1 and 6:1 ratios, undoped and doped with multi-walled carbon nanotubes. It was found that increasing the processing time increases the microhardness of Fe-Cu nanocomposites, and the presence of a small amount of multi-walled carbon nanotubes leads to a change in the microhardness of these materials. The obtained results open up prospects for the creation of composite materials with fundamentally new physical and mechanical characteristics.