A novel approach for fabrication of functionally graded W/Cu composites via microwave processing

Functionally graded materials (FGM) are a group of promising materials but demand efficient and reliable manufacturing approaches. We report a novel method utilizing microwave (MW) processing to fabricate functionally graded W/Cu composites. In the present work, the MW sintering set-up was designed to allow a potent heat flux and significant thermal gradient during the sintering. W skeletons with porosity gradient were synthesized first by using MW selective sintering. The W skeletons were subsequently infiltrated with Cu and W-Cu compositional graded composites were obtained. Corresponding to the compositional gradient, the composites showed gradients in hardness and electric conductivity. In addition, the graded microstructure and composition can be tailored by adding sintering activator such as Ni. This route provides an effective fabrication method of both porosity-gradient and compositional graded materials W/Cu composite. (c) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.