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Microstructure and properties of copper matrix composites reinforced with Cu-doped graphene

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Abstract

To reduce production cost and inhibit the aggregation of graphene, graphene oxide and copper nitrate solution were used as raw materials in the paper. Cu particles were introduced to the graphene nanosheets by in-situ chemical reduction method in the hydrazine hydrate and sodium hydroxide solution, and the copper matrix composite reinforced with Cu-doped graphene nanosheets were fabricated by powder metallurgy. The synthesized Cu-doped graphene was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The relative density, hardness, electrical conductivity and tensile strength of the copper matrix composite reinforced with Cu-doped graphene were measured as well. The results show that copper ions and graphene oxide can be effectively reduced by hydrazine hydrate simultaneously. Most of oxygen functional groups on the Cu-doped graphene sheets can be removed dramatically, and Cu-doped graphene inhibit the graphene aggregation effectively. Within the experimental range, the copper matrix composites have good comprehensive properties with 0.5 wt% Cu-doped graphene. The tensile strength and hardness are 221 MPa and 81.6 HV, respectively, corresponding to an increase of 23% and 59% compared to that of pure Cu, and the electrical conductivity reaches up to 93.96% IACS. However, excessive addition of Cu-doped graphene is not beneficial for the improvement on the hardness and electrical conductivity of copper matrix composite.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 52274366 and No. U21A2051), the Science and Technique Innovation Program of Shaanxi Province for Key Laboratory (No. 2014SZS08-K02).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shaanxi Province Key Laboratory of Electrical Materials and Infiltration Technology, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Xi’an University of Technology, Xi’an, 710048, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaohong Yang, Xingwang Cheng & Peng Xiao

  2. Engineering Research Center of Conducting Materials and Composite Technology, Ministry of Education, Xi’an, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaohong Yang, Xingwang Cheng, Yu Chen & Peng Xiao

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  1. Xiaohong Yang
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Yang, X., Cheng, X., Chen, Y. et al. Microstructure and properties of copper matrix composites reinforced with Cu-doped graphene. Carbon Lett. 34, 1317–1327 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42823-024-00689-2

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