Multiple strengthening mechanisms in nanoparticle-reinforced copper matrix composites

Abstract

The multiple hardening mechanisms of a copper matrix have been presented and discussed. The prealloyed ball milled Cu-3 wt.%Al and the atomized Cu-0·6 wt.%Ti-2·5 wt.%TiB 2 powders have been used as starting materials. Dispersoid particles Al 2 O 3 and TiB 2 were formed in situ. The powders have been hot consolidated. Optical microscopy, SEM, TEM, and X-ray diffraction analysis were performed for microstructural characterization. Increase in microhardness of Cu-3 wt.%Al compacts is a consequence of the crystallite size refinement and the presence of Al 2 O 3 particles. High hardening of Cu-0·6 wt.%Ti-2·5 wt.%TiB 2 is a consequence of the presence of modular structure, Cu 4 Ti (m) , and TiB 2 particles.

Metal Matrix Composites Reinforced by Nano-Particles—A Review

“…In particular, the most interesting metals for industrial applications are Al [8,11,, Mg [40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48], Ti [4,49,50], Cu [5,[51][52][53] and their alloys. Pure and alloyed aluminum is the most investigated material with the largest number of published research studies describing Al-based composites as possible candidates for structural application.…”

“…It can also be exploited for the formation of alloys by diffusion mechanisms starting from pure metals, and to produce performs by in situ reaction of nano-reinforcements. Therefore, mechanical alloying, which cannot be separated from the opportunity of breaking up of the nano-ceramic clusters, is a value-added option offered by this particular processing route [9,33,35,39,47,51,[70][71][72][73][74][75][76][77][78].…”

“…By this method, 53% of increment in YS and UTS was achieved [28]. In situ TiB 2 reinforced Cu alloy composite was indeed achieved via argon atomization at 1400 °C followed by hot isostatic pressing (HIP) at 200 °C under 200 MPa pressure [51]. Moreover, Cu-Al 2 O 3 nanocomposites have been prepared by two chemical routes: through decomposition of Al(NO 3 ) 3 to Al 2 O 3 by calcination of a paste of CuO-Al(NO 3 ) 3 followed by H 2 reduction and sintering, or through hydrolysis of Al(NO 3 ) 3 solution followed by calcination, reduction and sintering.…”

“…The most common routes are HIP [51], hot pressing [52] and cold pressing [9,26,28,54,77,78] or CIP [47,76] followed by a sintering treatment. Conventional hot extrusion [7,10,30,79] or equal channel angular extrusion (ECAE), also known as equal channel angular pressing ECAP) [15,18,19,21,32,34,37,53,80,81] revealed to be suitable methods to achieve full dense composites.…”

Microstructural Features and Mechanical Properties of In Situ Formed ZrB2/Cu Composites

“…[1][2][3] In such cases, the copper matrix composites are often fabricated by a liquid metallurgy route via an ex situ technique, in which previously produced reinforcements are added into the molten copper to improve the mechanical strength of the matrix. However, this conventional technique suffers from a number of pitfalls such as poor bonding, uneven distribution, poor isometric properties and formation of interfacial reaction products.…”