Fabrication of carbon nano-sized fiber reinforced copper composite using liquid infiltration process

Abstract

In the present study, the unidirectionally aligned carbon nano-sized fiber (CNF) reinforced Cu composite was fabricated by the liquid infiltration process, and the tensile behavior of the composite was evaluated. For the unidirectional alignment of the severely entangled CNFs, the mechanical drawing process was utilized. The bundle of drawn Cu tube, compacted with the unidirectionally aligned CNFs, was placed on the specially designed mold, which was subsequently canned, degassed, evacuated, heated at 1100 °C for 10 min in the electric furnace to liquefy Cu and finally transferred to the press. Tensile test results showed that approximately twofold increase in tensile strength was obtained with 13% CNF reinforcement, despite the weak chemical bonding between C and Cu. Based on the micrographic and fractographic observations, the strengthening mechanism of the CNF reinforced Cu composite fabricated by the liquid infiltration process was discussed.