Multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT)–copper (Cu) composites are successfully fabricated by a combination of a binder-free wet mixing and spark plasma sintering (SPS) process. The SPS is performed under various conditions to investigate optimized processing conditions for minimizing the structural defects of CNTs and densifying the MWCNT–Cu composites. The electrical conductivities of MWCNT–Cu composites are slightly increased for compositions containing up to 1 vol.% CNT and remain above the value for sintered Cu up to 2 vol.% CNT. Uniformly dispersed CNTs in the Cu matrix with clean interfaces between the treated MWCNT and Cu leading to effective electrical transfer from the treated MWCNT to the Cu is believed to be the origin of the improved electrical conductivity of the treated MWCNT–Cu composites. The results indicate the possibility of exploiting CNTs as a contributing reinforcement phase for improving the electrical conductivity and mechanical properties in the Cu matrix composites.

Composite materials consisting of pure aluminum matrix reinforced with different amounts of graphite particles are successfully fabricated by mechanical ball milling and spark plasma sintering (SPS) processes. The shrinkage rates of the composite powders vary with the amount of graphite particles and the lowest shrinkage value is observed for the composite with the highest amount of graphite particles. The current slopes of time increase with increase in the amount of graphite particles whereas the current slopes of temperature show the opposite trend. The highest thermal conductivity is achieved for the composite with the least amount of graphite particles. Therefore, the thermal properties of the composite materials can be controlled by controlling the amount of the graphite particles during the SPS process.

The oxidation behavior of 91 WC-9Co hardmetal in weight percentage has been studied in the present work as a part of the development of recycling process. The morphological and compositional changes of the WC-Co hardmetal with oxidation time at 90 were analyzed by using surface observation and X-ray diffraction. respective]y. As the oxidation time increased, the WC-Co hardmetal was continuously expanded to form porous oxide mixtures of and . The morphology of porous oxide mixture was basically dependent on initial shape of the WC-Co hardmetal. From thermo-gravimetric (TG) analysis, it was found that the oxidation rate was increased with increasing oxidation temperature and oxygen content in the flowing atmospheric gas. The fraction of oxidation versus time curves showed S-curve relationship at a given of oxidation temperature. These oxidation behaviors of the WC-Co hardmetal were discussed in terms of previously proposed kinetic models.