PREPARATION AND SINTERING OF W-20 % WT CU COMPOSITE POWDERS PRODUCED BY CO-PRECIPITATION METHOD

W-Cu composites are widely used as contacts, heat sinks and electro discharge electrodes. These kinds of materials can befabricated by sintering of W-Cu composite powders. In this research W-20%wt Cu composi te powders was synthesized via a co-precipitation method. Precipitate obtained from a mixture of copper nitrate and ammonium paratungstate (APT) in distilled water contained W-Cu compounds. This precipitate was washed, dried and calcined at 550 °C in air and then reduced in H2 atmosphere in order to convert to W-Cu powders. The calcination temperature of dried precipitate powder was determined by thermogravimetry (TG), differential thermal analysis (DTA) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The sintering of the reduced powders was investigated as afun ction of temperature. Relative density of more than 98% obtained for the powders sintered at 1200°C . The corresponding electrical conductivity was too close to theoretical calculations. The hardness of the sintered powders was 320 Vickers.