The harmonic structure composites with Ti-Ni alloy and Cu were fabricated by mechanical milling (MM) / spark plasma sintering (SPS) process and were investigated mechanical properties in detail. Fine Ti-Ni alloy powder and coarse Cu powder were mechanically milled by using a planetary ball mill equipment at cryogenic temperature. The MM powder was sintered by using the SPS apparatus at 1073 to 1273 K. Tensile tests were carried out at 383 K. Microstructural observation of the MM powders and SPS compacts was achieved by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The SPS compacts are the harmonic structure composite having the network structure with Ti-Ni alloy and the dispersive area with Cu. Such a Ti-Ni/Cu harmonic structure composite exhibits unique mechanical properties. Tensile strength and elongation increase with increasing the sintering temperature in the Ti-Ni/Cu harmonic structure composite.
Miyauchi et al. (Thu,) studied this question.