Tailored thermal expansion and electrical properties of α-Cu2V2O7/Al

α-Cu2V2O7/Al composites (with 5-80 wt% of Al) were prepared by a solid state method. Their structural stability, thermal expansion, hardness and electrical properties were studied in detail. The coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) and hardness of α-Cu2V2O7/Al composites sample can be tailored with the content of Al. The CTE is only 0.49×10−6 K−1 (RT-780 K) when the Al content is 10 wt%, which is near-zero thermal expansion. The electrical conductivity of α-Cu2V2O7/Al composites increases with increasing the content of Al. When the content of Al is larger than 40 wt%, the α-Cu2V2O7/Al composites exhibit excellent electrical conductivity, which can be mainly attributed to the conductive percolation phenomena of Al in the α-Cu2V2O7/Al composites.