Exploring Possibilities for Fabricating Cu–TiB2 Composite Through Different Powder Metallurgy Routes

摘要

Abstract Achievement of the most desirable mechanical properties through smooth processing techniques has led to the development of composite materials for sustainable applications. Powder metallurgy (PM) finds a special area of interest in fabricating composite materials among several processing strategies. Introduction of nano-TiB2 particles in Cu matrix through in situ or ex-situ processing is recently addressed to achieve a good combination of strength and conductivity. In this present investigation, Cu and TiB2 powders (5?wt) were subjected to ball milling and subsequently manufactured through three different powder metallurgy routes, i.e., hot pressing (HP), spark plasma sintering (SPS), and equal channel angular pressing (ECAP). A conventional PM route through simultaneous pressing and sintering (HP) is being compared with a severe plastic deformation (SPD) process (ECAP), while SPS operates with a completely different principle. This article guides toward the pros and cons of the three different processing routes in terms of relative density, porosity, hardness, strain, and the microstructure has been revealed through optical microscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, and X-ray diffraction. Transmission electron microscopy for the TiB2 particles was performed to ensure the particle size and dynamic light scattering for particle size distribution. Among all the three processing routes, the samples consolidated through SPS were found to possess the best relative density (~?97.5), microhardness (~?142?Hv), and strain (~?0.269), followed by ECAP and HP samples. A comparison of the grain refinement mechanism of the composites processed through different routes has also been presented.