In this work, the multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were purified with
an acid treatment and subsequently dispersed using ultrasound and a nonionic
surfactant solution of ethoxylated lauric alcohol 7 moles of ethylene oxide
(E7E). Then, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were used as a reinforcement phase (0.4
wt.% and 0.8 wt.%) in the Al- 10Mg alloy. The high-energy ball milling was
employed for the nanocomposites processing, and the resulting powders
consolidate by uniaxial pressure. Measurements of Vickers microhardness,
nanohardness, displacement, and Young's modulus were carried out on the
compacts. The samples were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy
(SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis),
Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and Raman spectroscopy
(RS). Good dispersion of MWCNTs was achieved using 0.5 mg/ml of the E7E
surfactant. The CNTs were dispersed in the Al-10Mg matrix using 0.25 h of
milling. After powders compaction, the Al-10Mg/0.4MWCNTs nanocomposite
presented a microhardness of 190 HV, nanohardness of 3.5 GPa, and Young's
modulus 116 GPa.