Physical and mechanical properties of porous copper nanocomposite produced by powder metallurgy

• Type and morphology of pores are studied by SEM, TGA, XRD and compressive test.
• Obtaining uniform distribution of nanoparticles and pore structure in the foams.
• Alumina nanoparticles lead to increasing strength, while ductility remains constant.
• Increasing relative density causes to increasing the plateau stress up to 111 MPa.
• Energy absorption increases with increasing relative density up to 29.97 MJ/m3.

In this study porous copper nanocomposite reinforced with Al2O3 nanoparticles was successfully produced with adjustable mechanical properties and homogeneous pore morphology using powder metallurgy process. For this purpose, lost carbonate sintering (LCS) method with K2CO3 as a filler material was used to fabricate composite foam. The process consisted of mixing of metal powder and adjustable nano particles along with filler material, pressing and sintering. Under this condition the filler material was disappeared during sintering and a homogenous porous structure was formed. Experiments were conducted with 2 wt.% of nano alumina and different weight fractions (15, 20, 30, 40, and 50) of K2CO3. Type and morphology of pores were investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Differential thermal analysis (DTA) and thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA) were also carried out to determine thermal behavior of potassium carbonate. EDS and XRD methods were used to analyze phase transformation during manufacturing process. Mechanical properties of the produced samples were investigated by uniaxial compression test. Compressive behavior of nanocomposite copper foams showed that they present more enhanced mechanical behavior in comparison with regular copper foams. The results showed that plateau stress of nanocomposite foam increased more than 2 times in compared with regular copper foam in same porosity percentage. The examination of uniaxial compression tests showed that the plateau stress and energy absorption of nanocomposite foams were in the range of 18–111 MPa and 6.82–29.97 MJ/m3, respectively.

In this study porous Cu–Al2O3 nano-composite was successfully produced with adjustable mechanical properties and homogeneous pore morphology through powder metallurgy method. Lost carbonate sintering (LCS) method with K2CO3 as a filler material was used. The process consisted of mixing of metal powder with filler material, pressing and sintering. Experiments were conducted with 2 wt.% nano alumina and different weight fractions of K2CO3. SEM, DTA, TGA, EDS and XRD methods were used to analysis the characteristics of the foams. Mechanical properties of the produced samples were investigated by compressive test.Figure optionsDownload as PowerPoint slide