Cast Tungsten Carbide Particles Reinforced Copper Matrix Composites

The age hardening characteristic of as-cast Cu20Ni20Mn and Cu20Ni35Mn alloys and the interface characteristic between the alloy and cast tungsten carbide were studied, and on the basis of this study, composites of Cu-Ni-Mn alloy reinforced with different volume fraction (0-45vol.%) and different size (42-362μm) of cast tungsten carbide particles were made by vacuum hot-pressing liquid sintering technology. Pin on disk two body abrasion tests have been performed with different size of SiC abrasive under different loads. The results show that the composites were more wear resistant than the matrix, contributing to the "volume effect" and "size effect", the wear resistance increases with the particle content and size. The composite shows better wear resistance than high chromium cast iron material especially in low load and fine abrasive test condition. The results also indicate that the composite strengthened by ageing treatment was more wear resistant than as-cast composite.