Research in metal matrix composites (MMCs) indicates that superior mechanical properties may be achieved by embedding reinforcement materials. However, the development of new composite powder for additive manufacturing requires an in-depth understanding of its key characteristics prior to its use in the fabrication process. This paper focuses on the low-energy ball milling (LEBM) of aluminium 2024 alloy (AA2024) reinforced with graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs). The main aim is to investigate the effect of the milling time (from 0.5 to 16 h) on the morphology and flowability of the powder. The study shows that, while short milling times (under 2 h) could not break the Van der WaRals forces between nanoparticles, GNPs were well separated and sufficiently covered the powder surface after 4 h of milling, thanks to the continuously applied impact energy. Longer milling time provides increasingly similar flowability results, confirmed by both the experimental work and discrete element model (DEM) simulations. Moreover, the ball milling process decreases the crystallite size of the milled powder by 24%, leading to a 3% higher microhardness. Lastly, the surface energy of the powder was determined as 1.4 mJ/m² by DEM, using the angle of repose of the as-received powder from experimental work.

Aluminium-based metal matrix composites reinforced with Graphene (Gr) and its derivatives have been reported as promising composites due to their superior properties such as strength, damage tolerance, fatigue resistance, and density. However, the crack and porosity susceptibility of Aluminium 2024 Alloy (AA2024) with added Gr when fabricated using additive manufacturing techniques is not sufficiently well understood. The present work addresses this knowledge gap by focusing on the effect of Graphene Nanoplatelets (GNPs) and scanning speed on the AA2024 composites’ wear performance, microstructural and mechanical properties of fabricated specimens using Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF). The experimental findings demonstrate that the Gr presence in the composite up to 0.5% improves its crystallite size and microhardness by up to 37.6% and 45%, respectively; however, it increases the porosity and crack formation due to the high laser power requirement. Moreover, the composites’ macroscale scratch and nanoscale wear performances showed improvements by up to 50% and 56% with higher Gr concentration (0.5%), suggesting that Gr is distributed uniformly in the structure. The improved understanding of the relationship between microstructure and mechanical characteristics of the GNPs/Al2024 composites fabricated using LPBF in terms of cracking and porosity formation is another significant contribution of this work.