Structural,mechanical and corrosion properties of CNT-304 stainless steel nanocomposites

In this work, a systematic investigation was performed on the structural, mechanical and corrosion properties of CNT incorporated 304 stainless steel. Various concentrations of CNT from 0.5 to 4 wt% were incorporated into the 304 stainless steel matrix to investigate the feasibility of fabrication and enhancement of strength and other material properties. The fabrication of CNT-steel composite was achieved through a spark plasma sintering process at a sintering temperature of 800 °C. Raman and morphological studies confirmed that the CNT structure was retained in the sintered pellets. Optimum performance was found at 0.5 wt% CNT giving a Vickers hardness of 351 Hv and compressive yield strength of 404 MPa which were 5.5 and 2.0 times, respectively, those of pristine steel. Corrosion studies with 3.5 wt% NaCl solution revealed a slight increase in the corrosion rate for CNT dispersed samples.