Abstract The technological and industrial needs for development of fully dense nanocomposites have led to significant advances in spark plasma sintering (SPS) technique and its enhanced forms. This technique has opened up a new prospect over carbon nanotube (CNT)-metal matrix nanocomposites (MMNCs) with superior physical or mechanical characteristics. To date, a large number of authentic papers have been published over this ongoing field, but have not been comprehensively reviewed. The pertinent research works cover some significant aspects of CNT-MMNCs requiring a concise review on (i) the potential phase transformations of pure CNTs and microstructure evolution; (ii) the novel approaches for uniform dispersion of CNTs inside the metallic matrices including Cu, Al, Ag, Ni, Ti, Mg, and Fe; and (iii) recent improvements in mechanical, thermal, electrical, biological, and tribological properties of CNT-MMNCs. The present review paper strives to scrutinize the aforementioned topics and provide a broad overview of the unsolved challenges and suggested solutions for them.

中文翻译：

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放电等离子体烧结碳纳米管增强金属基纳米复合材料的物理力学性能

摘要 开发全致密纳米复合材料的技术和工业需求导致放电等离子体烧结 (SPS) 技术及其增强形式的重大进步。该技术为具有优异物理或机械特性的碳纳米管（CNT）-金属基纳米复合材料（MMNCs）开辟了新的前景。迄今为止，已经在这个正在进行的领域发表了大量真实的论文，但尚未得到全面审查。相关研究工作涵盖了 CNT-MMNCs 的一些重要方面，需要对 (i) 纯 CNTs 的潜在相变和微观结构演变进行简要回顾；(ii) 在包括 Cu、Al、Ag、Ni、Ti、Mg 和 Fe 在内的金属基质中均匀分散碳纳米管的新方法；(iii) 最近在机械、热学、CNT-MMNCs 的电学、生物学和摩擦学特性。本审查文件力求仔细审查上述主题，并对未解决的挑战和建议的解决方案提供广泛的概述。