Property evaluation of Cu-based metal-hybrid material prepared by chemical reaction and pulse current activated sintering process

Abstract

In this paper, Cu-coated graphite sintered body for weight reduction and high thermal conductivity was fabricated using achemical reaction process and pulsed current activated sintering process. First, 4 g of coarsening graphite powders, which wastreated using an activation and wetting process, was added to an aqueous solution of copper (Cu) sulfate; also, 35 g of zinc(Zn) powders was added as a transposition solvent to the aqueous solution, and stirred for 1 h for a transposition reaction. After the addition of the fabricated powders mixture to a 75 wt.% DI water : 10 wt.% H3PO4 : 10 wt.% H2SO4: 5 wt.%mixture, tartaric acid was added to the aqueous solution to produce a passivating oxide film, followed by drying for 24 h. Thelow-intensity oxide peak of the XRD pattern of the fabricated powders was due to the suitable Zn powder content. The Cucoatedgraphite powder was used to carry out direction control for high thermal conductivity. Cu-coated graphite sinteredbodies were fabricated using a pulsed current activated sintering (PCAS) process. The Cu-graphite sintered bodies weresintered at 850 oC with heating rate steps of 20 and 30 oC/min, respectively. The Cu-coated graphite powders and compactswere evaluated using FE-SEM, EDS, XRD, TEM, particle analysis, Archimedes’ method, electronic conductivity, thermalcoefficient, and thermal conductivity.