Structural changes during synthesizing of nanostructured W–20 wt% Cu composite powder by mechanical alloying

Nanostructured W–20 wt% Cu composite powder was synthesized by mechanical alloying (MA) in an Attritor ball mill. The morphological changes and structural evolution of the composite powder during MA was studied by employing scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), laser particle size analyzer (LPS), inductively coupled plasma (ICP) spectrometry, atomic absorption spectrophotometery (AAS), and the bulk powder density measurement. The results were compared with those obtained from attrition milling of monolithic W and Cu powders processed at the same condition. Whereas the milling mechanism of the monolithic powders follow the ductile (for Cu) and semi-brittle (for W) systems, the W/Cu powder mixture exhibits different behavior. At the early stage of milling, the copper particles are fragmented and incorporated into the W matrix, resulting in the formation of W/Cu composite with laminar structure. With increasing milling time and due to continuous fracturing, the laminar structure is refined and a homogenous distribution of fine Cu particles (0.3–0.6 μm) in the W matrix is formed. The analysis of XRD patterns indicated that the composite powder composes of nanostructured grains with the size of 49 nm for Cu and 23 nm for W. A faster grain refinement in the composite powder compared to the monolithic particles was noticed. The XRD peak intensity also revealed that partial mutual solubility of the constituent elements (≈4–7 at% for Cu in W and ≈2–3 at% for W in Cu) was induced by prolonged mechanical milling.