Effect of Nano Copper on the Densification of Spark Plasma Sintered W–Cu Composites
Vadde Madhur, M. Srikanth, A. Raja Annamalai, A. Muthuchamy, Dinesh Agrawal, Chun‐Ping Jen
Abstract
In the present work, nano Cu (0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 wt.%) was added to W, and W–Cu composites were fabricated using the spark plasma sintering (S.P.S.) technique. The densification, microstructural evolution, tensile strength, micro-hardness, and electrical conductivity of the W–Cu composite samples were evaluated. It was observed that increasing the copper content resulted in increasing the relative sintered density, with the highest being 82.26% in the W75% + Cu25% composite. The XRD phase analysis indicated that there was no evidence of intermetallic phases. The highest ultimate (tensile) strength, micro-hardness, and electrical conductivity obtained was 415 MPa, 341.44 HV0.1, and 28.2% IACS, respectively, for a sample containing 25 wt.% nano-copper. Fractography of the tensile tested samples revealed a mixed-mode of fracture. As anticipated, increasing the nano-copper content in the samples resulted in increased electrical conductivity.