Effect of milling time on morphology and size of copper/CNT composite powder
Justyna Grzegorek, Łukasz Maj, Wojciech Maziarz
Quarterly No. 4, 2018 pages 227-233
DOI:
keywords: ball milling, copper powder, carbon nanotubes, SEM, sieve analysis, TEM
abstract The development of a sintered copper matrix composite with a small addition of carbon nanotubes (CNTs), which improves its mechanical strength without a decrease in electrical conductivity is of practical importance. Therefore, in the present paper the parameters of ball milling of a Cu+CNT powder mixture were optimized in order to obtain the highest refinement of particles of such a composite material. Investigations carried out with the help of scanning electron microscopy and sieve analysis revealed that the average particle size of the powder decreases with an increase in the volume content of the carbon nanotubes. The presence of carbon material should limit grain growth during the hot pressing of composite material, allowing much smaller grain sizes and accompanying high hardness to be obtained of the resulting compacts, as compared with similarly processed copper powder.