The Cu Matrix Strengthened by TiH₂-C In-Situ Synthesized via Mechanical Milling and Spark Plasma Sintering

J Nanosci Nanotechnol. 2021 Apr 1;21(4):2687-2691. doi: 10.1166/jnn.2021.19115.

Abstract

The present work is focused on the fabrication and the investigation of microstructures of copperbased TiC nanocomposites produced by mechanical milling in a high energy planetary ball mill. TiH₂, carbon and copper powders were used as starting materials in which In-Situ reaction between carbon and TiH₂ occurs to form TiC nanoparticles. The mixture powders of Cu-TiH₂-C were milled for 12 h at 450 rpm in Argon gas. Annealing treatment process at 950 °C for 2 h was applied for as-milled composite powders to enhance In-Situ reaction. The consolidation of composite powders was conducted by spark plasma sintering under uniaxial pressing of 70 MPa. Sintering procedure was done at 950 and 1000 °C for 5 min. The results indicated that as TiC nanoparticles are formed after sintering at 950 °C and the TiC particles are increased up at higher sintering temperature of 1000 °C. Fracture surface of sintered samples shows ductile mode. HR-TEM image showed the crystal size of copper was about 10 nm for sample sintered at 1000 °C. The hardness and relative density of the nanocomposites increase when increasing sintering temperature.