High‐Strength Wear‐Resistant Cu/Tungsten Carbide/Diamond Composites Fabricated by Powder Metallurgy

Abstract

Copper‐based diamond composites are widely used for thermal management and wear‐resistant materials. In this work, Cu/diamond, Cu/WC/diamond, and Cu‐0.92Cr/WC/diamond composites were fabricated by high‐energy ball milling and rapid hot‐pressing sintering. Physical characteristics, compressive strength, and tribological properties of the studied composites were investigated. The compressive strength of Cu/7wt.%WC/diamond composites was 102% higher than the Cu/diamond composites, reaching 415 MPa. Compression fractures extended from the interface due to compression cracks, consistent with the compression curves from molecular dynamics simulations. The crack propagated from the interface during the compression experiment, which was consistent with the result of molecular dynamics simulation. The Cu/7wt.%WC/diamond composites exhibited a wear rate of 0.6×10‐6 mm3/(N·m) and a friction coefficient of 0.37. at 50 N. The addition of WC and diamond improves the compressive strength and wear resistant. These findings were helpful in the development of copper composites with high compression strength and wear resistant.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.