Impact of the SiC addition on the morphological, structural and mechanical properties of Cu-SiC composite powders prepared by high energy milling

• Published in: Advanced powder technology : the international journal of the Society of Powder Technology, Japan Vol. 32; no. 8; pp. 2950 - 2961
• Main Authors: Câmara, Nailton T., Raimundo, Rafael A., Lourenço, Cleber S., Morais, Luís M.F., Silva, David D.S., Gomes, Rodinei M., Morales, Marco A., Macedo, Daniel A., Gomes, Uílame U., Costa, Francine A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.08.2021
• Subjects: Cu-SiC composite powder; High Energy Milling (HEM); Magnetic properties; Mechanical property; Microstructure; High Energy Milling (HEM); Cu-SiC composite powder; Microstructure; Mechanical property; Magnetic properties
• ISSN: 0921-8831; 1568-5527
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apt.2021.06.006

[Display omitted] •High energy milling of ductile Cu and hard SiC materials.•SiC fine fragments are embedded in Cu matrix forming a composite.•The smaller particle size was of 12.84 µm for the composite with 15 wt% SiC.•Vickers microhardness increased by 96.4% for the composite with 15 wt% SiC. The effect of the SiC content on the microstructural, mechanical, and magnetic properties of Cu(1 − x)SiC(x) composite powders (x = 0, 2, 10 and 15 wt%) prepared by high energy milling for 30 h was investigated. The results showed that Cu particles were severely deformed and formed plate like particles of different sizes, while SiC particles were fragmented and embedded in the Cu phase, thus, forming composite particles. As the SiC content increased, the average particle size decreased from 40.75 to 12.84 µm. Besides, XRD data showed a decrease in the crystallite sizes of the Cu phase (from 23.66 to 21.56 nm), accompanied by an increase in the lattice micro-strain (from 0.41 to 0.46%). Changes in the lattice parameters of the Cu phase were observed. The Vickers microhardness were measured in compacted powder samples and reached a maximum value of 135.22 HV for the sample with 15 wt% SiC. The samples showed hysteresis magnetic behavior at 300 K, and with a maximum saturation magnetization of 0.123 emu/g. The weak magnetic signal is mainly due to Co impurities present in the WC from the milling media.