A Study on the Microstructure and Physical Properties of Cold Sprayed Cu/CNT Composite Coating

摘要

Carbon nanotubes(CNTs) have outstanding mechanical, thermal, and electrical properties. Thus, by placing nanotubes into appropriate matrix, it is postulated that the resulting composites will have enhanced properties. Cold spray can produce thick metal-based composite coatings with very high density, low oxygen content, and phase purity, which leads to excellent physical properties. In this study, we applied cold spray coating process for the consolidation of Cu/CNT composite powder. The precursor powder mixture, in which CNTs were filled into copper particles, was prepared to improve the distribution of the CNT in copper matrix. Pure copper coating was also conducted by cold spraying as a reference. Annealing heat treatment was applied to the coating to examine its effect on the properties of the composite coating. The hardness of Cu/CNT composite coating represented similar value to that of pure copper coating. It was importantly found that the electrical conductivity of the Cu/CNT composite coating significantly increased from 53 percent for the standard condition to almost 55 percent in the optimized condition, taking annealed (500 deg C/1hr.) copper coating as a reference (100 percent). The thermal conductivity of Cu/CNT composite coating layer was higher than that of pure Cu coating. It was also found that the electrical and thermal conductivities of Cu/CNT composite could be improved through annealing heat treatment. The microstructural evolution of Cu/CNT coating was also investigated and related to the macroscopic properties.