Fabrication of Fe-Cu composites from electroexplosive bimetallic nanoparticles by spark plasma sintering

Abstract

The electrical explosion of two intertwined wires made of copper and iron makes it possible to synthesize Janus-like bimetallic nanoparticles comprised of Cu and Fe where the average nanoparticles size is 89 nm. We used spark plasma sintering (SPS) to fabricate a 3D composite material that included 47 wt% of Fe, and 53 wt% of Cu. It had even component distribution, relative density of 92.93% and microhardness of 265.1 HV. The microhardness of the fabricated composite is significantly higher than the values estimated according to the rule of mixtures. The properties of the Fe-53Cu 3D material suggest that the fine-grain structure is maintained after bimetallic nanoparticles that have Janus-like structure have been subjected to SPS.