Property evaluation of Cu-based metal-hybrid material prepared by chemical reaction and pulse current activated sintering process

In this paper, Cu-coated graphite sintered body for weight reduction and high thermal conductivity was fabricated using a chemical reaction process and pulsed current activated sintering process. First, 4 g of coarsening graphite powders, which was treated using an activation and wetting process, was added to an aqueous solution of copper (Cu) sulfate; also, 35 g of zinc (Zn) powders was added as a transposition solvent to the aqueous solution, and stirred for 1 h for a transposition reaction. After the addition of the fabricated powders mixture to a 75 wt.% DI water: 10 wt.% H₃PO₄: 10 wt.% H₂SO₄: 5 wt.% mixture, tartaric acid was added to the aqueous solution to produce a passivating oxide film, followed by drying for 24 h. The low-intensity oxide peak of the XRD pattern of the fabricated powders was due to the suitable Zn powder content. The Cu-coated graphite powder was used to carry out direction control for high thermal conductivity. Cu-coated graphite sintered bodies were fabricated using a pulsed current activated sintering (PCAS) process. The Cu-graphite sintered bodies were sintered at 850^oC with heating rate steps of 20 and 30 °C/min, respectively. The Cu-coated graphite powders and compacts were evaluated using FE-SEM, EDS, XRD, TEM, particle analysis, Archimedes’ method, electronic conductivity, thermal coefficient, and thermal conductivity.