Fabrication, Microstructure, and Properties of In Situ V 2 C-Reinforced Copper Composites.

In this paper, in situ V₂C-reinforced Cu composites were successfully fabricated by hot pressing at 750 °C under 25 MPa using Cu and V₂SnC powders. Due to decomposition of V₂SnC to V₂C and Sn during sintering, Sn atoms entered the crystal structure of Cu. Therefore, final compositions of composites consisted of Cu(Sn) and V₂C phases. Here, copper composites with 0, 5, 10, 20, and 30 vol.% V₂C were designed. Their microstructures and physical and mechanical properties were systematically investigated. It was observed that with increasing V₂C content, electrical conductivity decreased from 0.589 × 10⁸ S·m⁻¹ to 0.034 × 10⁸ S·m⁻¹ and thermal conductivity decreased from 384.36 W⋅m⁻¹⋅K⁻¹ to 24.65 W·m⁻¹·K⁻¹, while Vickers hardness increased from 52.6 HV to 334 HV. Furthermore, it was found that composites with 20 vol.% V₂C had the highest tensile strength (440 MPa). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]