Effect of lubricants on warm compaction process of Cu-based composite

The use of lubricant is the key of warm compaction technology. Because of admixed different lubricants, the optimal parameters of warm compaction process were also different. This paper investigated the effect of two kind of lubricants (zinc stearate and polystyrene) on the parameters of warm compaction process by compared properties of Cu-based composite. It was shown that with the rise of compacting pressure, the density and hardness of the Cu-based composite increased, but the resistivity and gaining weight reduced. With increasing compacting temperature, the density and hardness first increased and then decreased, but the trend of resistivity and gaining weight just reversed. For the samples admixed zinc stearate (ZS), the optimal admixed concentration was 0.4 wt%, and the sample prepared at 120 °C and 650 MPa had the highest density and hardness, the lowest resistivity and gaining weight. For the samples admixed polystyrene (PS), these parameters were 0.7 wt%, 140 °C and 650 MPa, respectively. The properties of samples admixed PS were superior to that of admixed ZS.