Mechanical alloying of Cu–SiC materials prepared with utilisation of copper waste chips

Abstract

The aim of this work was to study the structure and particle size of copper based composite materials reinforced with a high content (15–35 wt-%) of silicon carbide and prepared by mechanical alloying in the high energy planetary mill. Raw materials consisted of grinded copper chips with a size of <5000 μm and reinforcing particles with an initial size of 10 μm. Duration of milling was 20–80 min. It was shown that the formation of Cu–(15–25 wt-%)SiC composites occurred successfully. With an increase in the silicon carbide content of above 25 wt-% (48 vol.-%), the efficiency of mechanical alloying was decreased. The average size of composite particles was ∼20 μm.

Keywords:

• Composites
• Mechanical alloying
• Light microscopy
• Particle size analysis

Particle size analysis was performed in Belgorod State University Joint Research Centre BelSU ‘Diagnostics and Investigations of Nanostructured Materials’.