Fabrication, Microstructure, and Properties of In Situ V₂C-Reinforced Copper Composites

Abstract

In this paper, in situ V2C-reinforced Cu composites were successfully fabricated by hot pressing at 750 °C under 25 MPa using Cu and V2SnC powders. Due to decomposition of V2SnC to V2C and Sn during sintering, Sn atoms entered the crystal structure of Cu. Therefore, final compositions of composites consisted of Cu(Sn) and V2C phases. Here, copper composites with 0, 5, 10, 20, and 30 vol.% V2C were designed. Their microstructures and physical and mechanical properties were systematically investigated. It was observed that with increasing V2C content, electrical conductivity decreased from 0.589 × 108 S·m−1 to 0.034 × 108 S·m−1 and thermal conductivity decreased from 384.36 W⋅m−1⋅K−1 to 24.65 W·m−1·K−1, while Vickers hardness increased from 52.6 HV to 334 HV. Furthermore, it was found that composites with 20 vol.% V2C had the highest tensile strength (440 MPa).

Keywords

• copper
• metal matrix composite
• in situ
• physical properties
• mechanical properties