Electrical and Mechanical Properties of Microwave Sintered Cu-ZrO2 (8-YSZ) Nano-Composites

Abstract: Metal matrix nano-composites containing copper and ZrO2 (8-YSZ) were sintered by microwave using mixtures of Cu and 1 wt.%, 2 wt.%, 3 wt.%, 4 wt. % and 5 wt. % of zirconia powders for 20min. The zirconia content up to 5 wt.%, resulted in an increase of 62.5 % and 21.9 % in micro-hardness and compressive strength respectively, and slight decrease in relative density and electrical conductivity ( % IACS). In addition, field emission scanning electron micros copy (FESEM) and SEM fitted with EDX were used to characterize the sintered nano-composites