The Microstructural Effects on the Mechanical and ThermalProperties of Pulsed Electric Current Sintered Cu-Al2O3 Composites

In this work, the influences of the microstructure on the mechanical and thermal properties of pulsed electric currentsintered (PECS) Cu-Al2O3 composites are investigated. The process parameters were optimized for four different grades ofcomposite powders to obtain dense samples (98-99.6%T.D.). Higher hardness and better thermal stability were attained tothe samples compacted from commercial internally oxidized (IO) powders than to the compacts made from the chemicallysynthesised experimental powders. This difference was attributed to the distribution and size of Al2O3-particles in the twotypes of composites. The CTE values of all the compacts were between 17 and 20 x 10-6K-1 (370-770 K). The results showthat PECS can be used to produce dense high quality Cu-Al2O3 composites.