Application of mechanical alloying processing to the formation of Cu-C metallic composite powder

It was investigated whether mechanical alloying CMA) processing could be more effective to the formation of Cu-C metallic composite powder. Elemental powder mixtures of Cu-63vol.% C were mechanically alloyed with an attritor in an argon atmosphere and microstructural evolution was examined by X-ray diffraction analysis, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. It has been found that even with the high volume fraction of immiscible graphite in Cu-C system, the refinement with a few ten nanometer size as well as the highly uniform distribution of the copper phase has been achieved by the MA processing.