Abstract
To prepare a TiC-dispersion-strengthened copper, the mixtures of pure electrolytic Cu, pure Ti and graphite powders as starting materials were mechanically alloyed for 72.0 ks in argon atmosphere. The solid solution or ultra fine grained mixture of the Cu-Ti-C system obtained was heat-treated in vacuo in the temperature range of 873-1273 K for 3.6 ks. Very fine TiC particles precipitated by this heat-treatment. The mean particle size of TiC precipitates became slightly larger with the increase of heat-treatment temperature such as 5-10 nm at 1073 K, and 10-30 nm at 1273 K. The TiC-dispersion-strengthened coppers having up to 4.13 vol% TiC did not separate the Cu dhase from the Cu-TiC alloys by the heat-treatment below the temperature of 1273 K. The separation of Cu phase in Cu-10.00 vol%TiC alloy hardly took place by the heat-treatment up to the temperature of 1073 K, so that the TiC-dispersion-strengthened copper was excellent in thermal stability. The hardness values of them after heat-treatment were higher than those of Cu-Al2O3 alloy having the same volume percentage of dispersoid particles.
