A Review of Spark Plasma Sintering of Carbon Nanotubes Reinforced Titanium-Based Nanocomposites: Fabrication, Densification, and Mechanical Properties

The quest to consistently develop improved materials for direct application in automotive, aerospace, and other industries has led to the synthesis of titanium-based composites—with current research efforts being directed toward the utilization of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as reinforcement. CNTs constitute an outstanding reinforcement for titanium-based matrixes, owing to their extraordinary physical, electrical, mechanical, and thermal properties. Powder metallurgy (PM) routes have been adjudged the most promising technique for synthesizing CNT-reinforced titanium. However, past reviews have highlighted various PM techniques, reinforcement efficiency, and effective methods for dispersing CNTs in metal matrixes. Among the various PM techniques, spark plasma sintering (SPS) has gained popularity in the synthesizing of titanium-based nanocomposites (TMNCs). Hence, this review focused on past works on the SPS of TMNCs reinforced with CNTs. The properties of CNTs, their fabrication method, their densification mechanism, and the mechanical properties of sintered TMNCs were discussed in detail.