COPPER MATRIX COMPOSITES REINFORCED WITH TITANIUM NITRIDE PARTICLES SYNTHESIZED BY MECHANICAL ALLOYING AND SPARK PLASMA SINTERING

Copper matrix composites containing ceramic particles such as carbides, borides, or nitrides have attracted much attention over the last few years. The increased interest in such materials has mainly been created by their high electrical and thermal conductivity, good mechanical and tribological properties, and microstructural stability. Among other nitrides, the titanium nitride seems to be considered asan attractive reinforcement due to its high hardness, excellent electrical conductivity, and stability at high temperatures. Moreover, its good corrosion resistance proves the uniqueness of the TiN particles above any other nitrides. In this work, Cu-10 wt.% TiN composite powders were produced by mechanical alloying and sintered by the spark plasma sintering (SPS) technique under different temperatures. The morphology and powder particle size after mechanical synthesis were inspected by a scanning electron microscopy (SEM) for all of the powder samples; chemical composition analyses (EDS) were also  performed. The hydrostatic method was used to measure the density of the composite samples to analyze the influence of milling time on the process of consolidation in the composite powders.