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Copper is a very popular electro-conductive material, however, the mechanical properties of pure Cu are low. They can be typically improved by (micro)alloying, or via structure modifications introduced by optimized deformation and thermomechanical treatments. Designing a Cu-based composite, possibly strengthened by a dispersion of fine oxides, is another way how to favourably improve the strength properties of Cu. In this study, we performed mechanical alloying of a Cu powder with a powder of Al2O3 oxide, which is known to have strengthening effects on metallic materials. After mixing, we sealed the powder mixture into evacuated tubular Cu containers (i.e. cans). As for the consolidation procedure, we applied direct consolidation of the canned powders via the intensive plastic deformation method of rotary swaging, performed under warm conditions. Subsequently, we subjected the swaged conductors to measurements of electric conductivity and detailed structure observations. The results revealed that the applied swaging ratio was sufficient to fully consolidate the canned powders as the final conductor was unrecognizable from a cast alloy from the viewpoints of visual and structure assessment. In other words, the structure did not exhibit any voids or remnants of unconsolidated powder particles. The observed fine grains with homogeneous dispersion of Al2O3 oxide particles provided improvement of the mechanical properties, as proven by microhardness measurements. Moreover, the electric properties remained favourable.
Keywords: Copper, oxide dispersion, electric conductivity, rotary swaging, microstructure© This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.