PREPARATION OF Cu MATRIX COMPOSITE REINFORCED WITH IN-SITU NANOSIZED Al2O3 PARTICLE POWDER FROM METAL NITRATES

The objective of the present work is to investigate the feasibility of the synthesis of copper matrix composite reinforced with in-situ nanosized Al2O3 particle powder via combustion synthesis method from metal nitrates followed by reducing process at high temperature. The starting nitrates Cu(NO3)2.3H2O and Al(NO3)3·9H2O composition corresponds to Cu-30%Al2O3. X-ray Diffraction (XRD) patterns of the obtained powders indicated the presence of the oxides CuO and CuAl2O4. The powder had the size of 75 ± 10 nm after deagglomerating by soft ball milling for 24h. After reducing in CO at 1000oC for 3h, the peaks of the oxides were no longer observed and were replaced by the peaks of Cu and -Al2O3. The morphology of the reduced powders observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) analysis showed well distribution of the -Al2O3 particles within the Cu matrix with an average particle size of 40 nm.