Ultrafine-grained copper prepared by spark plasma sintering process

Spark plasma sintering (SPS) parameters including pressure, temperature, holding time and heating rate were considered and optimized to investigate the sintering process of bulk copper. The relationship between the sintering parameters and the microstructure of the bulk compact were obtained and studied. It was concluded that large-size ultrafine-grained copper with an average grain size less than 2.2 μm and a relative density greater than 96% could be prepared by the SPS process with initial pressure of 1 MPa, holding pressure of 50 MPa, sintering temperature of 750 °C, holding time of 6 min and heating rate of 80 °C/min. The production process improved the mechanical properties.