Microstructure and properties of W-15Cu alloys prepared by mechanical alloying and spark plasma sintering process

Abstract

W-15Cu composite powders prepared by mechanical alloying (MA) of raw powders were consolidated by spark plasma sintering (SPS) process at temperature ranged 1 230–1 300 °C for 10 min and under a pressure of 30 MPa. By using high energy milling, particles containing very fine tungsten grains embedded in copper, called composite particles, could be produced. The W grains were homogeneously dispersed in copper phase, which was very important to obtain W-Cu alloy with high mechanical properties, fine and homogeneous microstructure. The microstructure and properties of W-15Cu alloys prepared by SPS processes at different temperature were researched. The results show that W-15Cu alloys consolidated by SPS can reach 99.6 % relative density, and transverse rupture strength (TRS) is 1 400.9 MPa, Rockwell C hardness (HRC) is 45.2, the thermal conductivity is 196 W/m·K at room temperature, the average grain size is less than 2 μm, and W-15Cu alloy with excellent properties, homogeneous and fine microstructure is obtained.