Characteristics of nanopowders produced by wire electrical explosion of tinned copper conductor in argon

The end products of electrical explosion of copper wires coated with a thin tin layer were studied. Depositing tin (~ 1 wt.%) on the surface of the copper wire did not have a considerable effect on the relation between the sample dispersity and the input energy. When increasing the input energy, the tin content in surface and near-surface layers of the nanoparticles reduces sharply within 1.1–1.3 W/ W s. Decreasing the input energy increases the oxidation onset temperature by ~ 20 °C when heating Cu (Sn) nanopowders unlike the copper nanopowders without additives. The main phase in the powders is crystallized copper.