Strengthening effects in precipitation and dispersion hardened powder metallurgy copper alloys

► Preparation and study of strengthening effects in Cu-Ti, Cu-TiB2 and Cu-Ti-TiB2 alloys. ► High strengthening of the Cu-Ti due to modular structure and precipitation of Cu4Ti(m). ► High hardness in Cu-TiB2 due to finely distributed TiB2 after mechanical alloying. ► Hardening in the Cu-Ti-TiB2 due to modular structure, Cu4Ti(m), and TiB2 dispersoids. ► The highest hardness in Cu-Ti-TiB2 owing to combined hardening mechanism.