Abstract

The microstructural evolution during mechanical alloying of Cu and Mo was studied. The aim of this work is to study the effect of the milling time on the formation of the solid solution of molybdenum in copper, employing variable amounts of Mo (1 and 8 at.%). The milling was performed under an inert argon atmosphere in a SPEX 8000D mill. Milling times of 4, 8, 25, 50, 75 and 100 h were used keeping a constant ball to powder ratio of 10-1. The effects of milling parameters such as milling time and composition on the synthesis and structure of Cu-Mo powders were investigated using XRD, nanohardness, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and TEM. The results show that the grain size and particle size of powders decrease with increasing milling time. Grain size in samples with 8 at.% Mo approached a minimum value of 20 nm after 50 h, and in samples with 1 at.% Mo, 30 nm after 75 h of milling. Nanohardness shows a maximum about 4 GPa for the alloy with 8 at.% of Mo and 100 h of milling. The measured crystallite size by TEM is in good agreement with the value calculated by XRD. Thermal analyses (DSC) showed the temperature intervals where the dynamic recrystallization would take place. According to these results this phenomenon would happen near 350 °C. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.