Mechanical and Thermal Properties of Harmonic Structure Composites with Ti-Ni Alloy and Copper

The harmonic structure composites with Ti-Ni alloy and Cu were fabricated by mechanical milling (MM) / spark plasma sintering (SPS) process and were investigated mechanical and thermal properties in detail. Fine Ti-Ni alloy powder and coarse Cu powder were mechanically milled using planetary ball mill equipment at cryogenic temperature. The MM powder was sintered by using the SPS apparatus at 1073 to 1273 K. Tensile tests carried out at 383 K as mechanical properties evaluation. Thermal expansion to 1073 K was evaluated using thermomechanical analyzer equipment. Microstructural observation of the MM powders and SPS compacts was achieved using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). SPS compacts is the harmonic structure composite having the network structure with Ti-Ni alloy and the dispersive area with Cu. Such a Ti-Ni/Cu harmonic structure composite exhibits unique mechanical properties. T ensile strength and elongation increase with increasing the sintering temperature in the Ti-Ni/Cu harmonic structure composite. The coefficient of linear thermal expansion of the Ti-Ni/Cu harmonic structure composite lies between that of Ti-Ni alloy and Cu, and a sufficient reduction in the coefficient of linear thermal expansion is confirmed.