W and TiO2 particles synergistic strengthened Cu matrix nanocomposites by mechano-chemical method

In this study, a novel W and TiO2 synergistic strengthened copper matrix nanocomposite was prepared by a powder metallurgy route with a mechano-chemical method and subsequent consolidation. Nano-sized W and TiO2 particles in the composite powder were fabricated by solid-phase reaction during the mechanical alloying procedure. The average sizes of W and TiO2 particles were only 51 and 171 nm, far finer than single-phase particle-strengthened composites. It was found that the nanoparticles effectively resisted the grain coarsening in the copper matrix, containing the grains with an average size of 350 nm. The ultimate tensile strength and electrical conductivity of the copper composite are 520 MPa and 74 IACS%, achieve an ideal trade-off between them. The observations suggested that the nanoparticles were highly uniformly dispersed in the copper matrix, and the particle coarsening was restrained as the results of the interaction effects between W and TiO2 nanoparticles.