Development of lead-free copper alloy graphite castings. Annual report, January--December 1995

Abstract

The distribution of graphite particles in graphite containing copper alloy was further improved very significantly using several procedures and technological modifications. The developed techniques attacked the graphite distribution problem in two ways. Realizing that clustering of very fine (5um) graphite particles is one of the two major problems, a pretreatment process has been developed using aluminum powders to deagglomerate graphite particles. Along with this, a two-stage stirring technique was used to first incorporate and then to distribute uniformly the deagglomerated particles in the melt. During this year, based on these developments, several components were cast to evaluate the castability of Cu alloy-graphite melts. In addition, machinability tests were done to clearly established that addition of graphite particles improve the machinability of copper MMC alloys over and above that of monolithic copper alloys. The results show that the machining chip sizes and cutting forces of Cu alloys containing graphite particles are smaller than these of the corresponding monolithic Cu alloys. This clearly establishes that the presence of graphite particles in copper alloy improves the machinability in a fashion similar to lead additions to copper alloys. Centrifugal casting of shapes of different sizes appear to be a very attractive method for casting graphite containing copper alloys, since all the graphite particles (regardless of their distribution in the melt) are forced to segregate to the inner periphery of the castings where they impart a very desirable solid lubrication property for bushing and bearing use. A very large number of cylindrical elements of lead bearing copper alloys are now used for similar bearing bushing applications and the manufacturers of these type of bearings are under safety and health hazard pressure to remove lead. This year several parameters for centrifugal casting of copper graphite alloys have been established.