Thermochemical synthesis of nanostructured Cu-Al2O3 composite powder

Synthesis of Cu-Al2O3 nanocomposite powder through a thermochemical method from the water solution of copper nitrate (Cu (NO3)2.3H2O) and aluminum nitrate (Al (NO3)6.9H2O) is studied in this research. X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were utilized to characterize the synthesized powder. XRD results show that γ-Al2O3 phase begins to form at the temperature ≈800°C during the heat treatment process. Studying SEM micrographs proves that the nano sized Al2O3 particles are homogenously dispersed in the copper matrix. XRD results also show that disappearing the reflects of CuO peaks after performing a reduction chemical reaction at the temperatures above 800°C in hydrogen atmosphere indicates that such chemical reaction at the temperatures above 800°C is required in order to achieve Cu-Al2O3 nanocomposite powder