Synthesis of iron-copper alloy using electrical discharge machining

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe present work investigates the novel route for the synthesis of Fe-Cu alloy using electric discharge machining (EDM). The Synthesis of Fe-Cu alloy is difficult by equilibrium processes because of their immiscible nature. An attempt was made to investigate the synthesis of Fe-Cu alloy by EDM process where the discharge can lead to a very high temperature and subsequent quenching to result in alloy formation. The electrode was made up of copper and die steel was used as workpiece. The characterization of generated debris was carried out by X-ray diffraction analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The nano-phase granular particles of Fe-Cu alloy were confirmed by TEM and selected area diffraction pattern analysis. SEM morphology results reveal that the generated particles were both, spherical and non-spherical shape and size ranging between 50 nm and 30 µm. The EDS analysis indicates that the spherical particles were Fe-rich and non-spherical particles were Cu-rich.