Abstract
The spherical TiB2/Cu composite powder was fabricated by a new method of liquid-phase in-situ reaction coupled with inert gas atomization. The powder morphology, characteristic indexes, microstructure and nanoindentation hardness were investigated. The effects of spheroidization time and solidification rate of atomized molten droplets on powder sphericity and the relationship between in-situ reaction control and TiB2 distribution were discussed. Results indicate that the powder has a good sphericity and d50 is 32.86 μm, in addition to 75% fine powder yield (<45 μm). The in-situ formed TiB2 particles (TiB2p) were uniformly distributed in grain boundaries and intragrain. The rapid solidification of molten droplets and the inhibition of copper grain growth by TiB2p refined the Cu matrix grain size (4.34 μm). The nanoindentation hardness of composite powder is 3.17 GPa, which is 1.9 times higher than that of spherical Cu powder, and the reasons for the increased hardness of powder are also discussed.
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