Investigations on microstructure, physical, mechanical, thermal, electrical, corrosion and wear behavior of Cu-B4C-MoO3 hybrid composites

This research work aims to produce Cu-B 4 C-MoO 3 composites with various weight percentages using powder metallurgy (PM) process. The combinations of the composites are Cu, Cu-3wt%B 4 C-5wt%MoO 3 , Cu-6wt%B 4 C-10%wt%MoO 3 , and Cu-9wt%B 4 C-15wt%MoO 3 . The composite powders were produced via ball milling process at a speed of 170 rpm for three hours. The ball milled powders were subjected to SEM and EDS analyses.Then the ball milled composite powders were compacted with a dimension of 12 × 24 mm, with a hydraulic press of 50 kN.Ultimately, sintering was carried out at 900 °C in a furnace.The sintering was done for 3 h. The sintered samples were subjected to SEM examination. SEM analysis witnessed the fine dispersal of reinforcements with matrix. The sintered samples were subjected to density and porosity analyses. The mechanical properties hardness and compressive strength were examined. The thermal and electrical conductivity was examined. Furthermore the corrosion and wear rate of the composites were studied. The results show that higher hardness of 289 HV, 589 MPa of compressive strength and least thermal conductivity of 203 W mK −1 , electrical conductivity of 22 Ms m −1 , corrosion rate of 0.04 g and wear rate of 149 microns was obtained for the Cu-9wt%B 4 C-15wt%MoO 3 composites.