Copper matrix composites enhanced by silver/reduced graphene oxide hybrids

Silver/reduced graphene oxide (Ag-rGO) has been employed as reinforcements to prepare the copper matrix composites via ball milling and hot-pressed sintering at different pressure. The micro-hardness increased with the pressure and reached 89.1 HV at 60 MPa, 27.3% higher than the pure copper. The electrical and thermal conductivity had the maximum at 50 MPa and reached 56.8 m/Ω mm2 and 343.5 W/m k, respectively. The excellent mechanical, thermal and electrical properties of the Ag-RGO/Cu composites indicated that Ag-RGO hybrid was an effective reinforcement to fabricate Cu matrix composites.