Comparing Conventional Cold Compaction and Sintering and Spark Plasma Sintering in Consolidating Mechanically Alloyed Cu-Based Cu–Zr Supersaturated Alloy Powder
摘要
Two Cu-based powder alloys of composition Cu–2Zr and Cu–5Zr (at.%) were synthesized by mechanical alloying of pure elemental Cu and Zr in appropriate amount for 30 h. X-ray line profile analysis of the alloyed powder of both compositions suggests the formation of Zr supersaturated Cu phase with a crystallite size below 20 nm. The powder alloys were consolidated into bulk form by two different routes of conventional cold compaction and sintering and spark plasma sintering at similar temperature of 800 °C. Microstructural characterization and density measurement show that the spark plasma sintering results in better densification than conventional cold compaction and sintering. Consequently, the consolidated Cu–5Zr alloy through spark plasma sintering exhibits best combination of electrical conductivity of 28% IACS and microhardness value of 302 VHN.