Effects of Mechanical Alloying Parameters on the Microstructures of Nanocrystalline Cu-5 wt% Cr Alloy

Nanocrystalline Cu-5 wt%Cr alloy powders were fabricated by mechanical alloying (MA). The effects of MA processing parameters on the crystallite size, solid solubility, and microstructures of the Cu-5 wt%Cr alloys were investigated including type and size distribution of the grinding medium and ball-to-powder weight ratio (BPR). The results show that the crystallites were refined effectively and solid solubility of Cr in Cu was extended when heavier ball and higher BPR were adopted. The maximum solubility is extended up to 5.6 at% (namely 4.6 wt%) Cr in Cu by use of a combination of large and small size WC-Co balls with BPR of 30:1. A Cu-5 wt%Cr supersaturated solid solution alloy bulk is obtained by spark plasma sintering the as-milled powders at 900 ℃ for 5 min.