Fabrication of W/Cu FGM by aqueous tape casting

Abstract

Tungsten Copper-based metals (W/Cu) were extensively used as electrical contact materials in switching systems for the electric power industry. In this paper, a novel investigation to prepare Tungsten Copper-based metal composite materials according to functionally graded material (FGM) concept and the method of tape casting was reported. Cu-coated W powders with different Cu weight fraction were synthesized via electricless plain in methanol-water solvent. The green tapes with different composition and thickness were laminated and then sintered to prepare W-Cu functionally graded materials. XRD, EDS, SEM and metallographic analyses were used to characterize the material microstructure and combination between different layers. The results showed that the Cu-coated W powders had grate compressibility leading to wettability of powders. The parallelism and flatness of intermediate layer were good and the combination was tight. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.