Thermal, electrical and mechanical characterization of microwave sintered Copper/carbon nanotubes (CNT) composites against sintering duration, CNT diameter and its concentration

Abstract

Highly conductive Copper/carbon nanotubes (Cu/CNT) composites are being explored in structural, electrical and thermal applications due to their requirement for prolonged usage in industrial applications. The conventional materials used to transport the heat and heat transfer fluid are required to be strengthened to increase their structural integrity and longevity in addition to increase their performances. Thus, the objective of present work is to study the influence of different diameters of CNT in improving the mechanical, electrical and thermal properties of Copper based composites by varying the sintering duration and CNT concentration in order to explore their usage in different potential applications. In this study, Cu/CNT composite powder was synthesized using molecular level mixing technique and consolidated by uniaxial compaction at 800 MPa followed by microwave sintering at 60, 75 and 90 min. Three diameters of CNT having the range of 10–20 nm, 20–40 nm and 40–60 nm were used with 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1 wt.% concentrations to prepare the composites. The superior characteristics obtained from the present study are as follows: Hardness- 91.7 ± 1.59 VHN, Relative density– 90.9%, Electrical conductivity– 49.3 ± 0.1 MS/m, Thermal conductivity– 364.5 W/mK. It is concluded that any desired electrical and thermal characteristics of the composites can be obtained using the proposed methodology and the results obtained from the present study are at par with other high end technology.