Green compacts containing 6.8 masso%Al prepared from the mixture of Cu and Cu-11mass% Alalloy powders were heated under various conditions. Sintering proceeded more readily than thatfor the use of previously reported prealloyed powder compacts, but the properties of sintered compacts were considerably influenced by raw powders and heating conditions such as the oxygen content of the Cu powder, the oxygen potential of the atmosphere, and heating rate.
Sintered compacts having high strength, high ductility and high specific density were obtained when the green compacts prepared from low oxygen powders and embedded in graphite powder were heated rapidly to about 1270K and held at this temperature for 4-7 ks in a reduced (CO) pressure less than 0.03 Pa.
The use of Cu-Al powders of high Al content as the raw powders was effective for acceleration of sintering reaction, but it did not improve the strengths and the specific densities of the sintered compacts.