Densification and microstructure of the nanocomposite W-Cu powders

Nanocomposite W-Cu powders consisting of nanoscale W and Cu powders (30 similar to S0nm) undergo remarkable densification during heat-up in solid phase sintering (SPS). The nanocomposite powder was prepared by mechanical attrition and hydrogen reduction of W-Cu oxide mixture. It was Sound that W-W sintering and W-Cu aggregation initiate the densification process during SPS. Accordingly the understanding of SPS in the nanocomposite W-Cu powder compacts is essential not only to elucidate densification mechanism but also to control the microstructure of W-Cu alloy. In this paper we report the results for densification mechanism of nanocomposite W-Cu powder during SPS in terms of microstructural development and sintering kinetics.