Abstract
Cu/Al composites are of vital importance in industrial applications because of their numerous advantages. The influence of bonding temperature and cooling rate on the microstructure and morphology of Cu/Al composites was investigated in this paper. The interfacial morphology and constituent phases at the Cu/Al interface were analyzed by optical microscopy and field-emission scanning electron microscopy equipped with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The results indicate that effective Cu-Al bonding requires a higher bonding temperature to facilitate interdiffusion between the two metals. The microstructural characteristics are associated with various bonding temperatures, which impact the driving force of interdiffusion. It is observed that cooling rate exerts a significant influence on the morphology and amount of the intermetallic compounds at the interfacial region. Meanwhile, microhardness measurements show that hardness varies with the bonding temperature and rate of cooling.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
C.C. Hsieh, M.S. Shi, and W.T. Wu, Growth of intermetallic phases in Al/Cu composites at various annealing temperatures during the ARB process, Met. Mater. Int., 18(2012), No. 1, p. 1.
Y.J. Guo, G.J. Qiao, W.Z. Jian, and X.H. Zhi, Microstructure and tensile behavior of Cu-Al multi-layered composites prepared by plasma activated sintering, Mater. Sci. Eng. A, 527(2010), No. 20, p. 5234.
K.S. Lee and Y.N. Kwon, Solid-state bonding between Al and Cu by vacuum hot pressing, Trans. Nonferrous Met. Soc. China, 23(2013), No. 2, p. 341.
P. Eslami and A.K. Taheri, An investigation on diffusion bonding of aluminum to copper using equal channel angular extrusion process, Mater. Lett., 65(2011), No. 12, p. 1862.
P. Xue, B.L. Xiao, D.R. Ni, and Z.Y. Ma, Enhanced mechanical properties of friction stir welded dissimilar Al-Cu joint by intermetallic compounds, Mater. Sci. Eng. A, 527(2010), No. 21–22, p. 5723.
C.W. Tan, Z.G. Jiang, L.Q. Li, Y.B. Chen, and X.Y. Chen, Microstructural evolution and mechanical properties of dissimilar Al-Cu joints produced by friction stir welding, Mater. Des., 51(2013), p. 466.
G.R. Zare, M. Divandari, and H. Arabi, Investigation on interface of Al/Cu couples in compound casting, Mater. Sci. Technol., 29(2013), No. 2, p. 190.
Y.J. Su, X.H. Liu, H.Y. Huang, X.F. Liu, and J.X. Xie, Interfacial microstructure and bonding strength of copper cladding aluminum rods fabricated by horizontal core-filling continuous casting, Metall. Mater. Trans. A, 42(2011), No. 13, p. 4088.
T.H. Lee, Y.J. Lee, K.T. Park, H.H. Nersisyan, H.G. Jeong, and J.H. Lee, Controlling Al/Cu composite diffusion layer during hydrostatic extrusion by using colloidal Ag, J. Mater. Process. Technol., 213(2013), No. 3, p. 487.
S.S. Sayyedain, H.R. Salimijazi, M.R. Toroghinejad, and F. Karimzadeh, Microstructure and mechanical properties of transient liquid phase bonding of Al2O3 P/Al nanocomposite using copper interlayer, Mater. Des., 53(2014), p. 275.
E. Hug and N. Bellido, Brittleness study of intermetallic (Cu, Al) layers in copper-clad aluminium thin wires, Mater. Sci. Eng. A, 528(2011), No. 22–23, p. 7103.
B. Xu, W.P. Tong, C.Z. Liu, H. Zhang, L. Zuo, and J.C. He, Effect of high magnetic field on growth behavior of compound layers during reactive diffusion between solid Cu and liquid Al, J. Mater. Sci. Technol., 27(2011), No. 9, p. 856.
A. Elrefaey and W. Tillmann, Solid state diffusion bonding of titanium to steel using a copper base alloy as interlayer, J. Mater. Process. Technol., 209(2009), No. 5, p. 2746.
M. Divandari and A.R. Vahid Golpayegani, Study of Al/Cu rich phases formed in A356 alloy by inserting Cu wire in pattern in LFC process, Mater. Des., 30(2009), No. 8, p. 3279.
N. Liu, J.C. Jie, Y.P. Lu, L. Wu, Y. Fu, and T.J. Li, Characteristics of clad aluminum hollow billet prepared by horizontal continuous casting, J. Mater. Process. Technol., 214(2014), No. 1, p. 60.
Y. Natsume, K. Ohsasa, Y. Tayu, T. Momono, and T. Narita, Numerical modeling of the transient liquid-phase diffusion bonding process of Al using Cu filler metal, ISIJ Int., 43(2003), No. 12, p. 1976.
H. Nami, A. Halvaee, H. Adgi, and A. Hadian, Investigation on microstructure and mechanical properties of diffusion bonded Al/Mg2Si metal matrix composite using copper interlayer, J. Mater. Process. Technol., 210(2010), No. 10, p. 1282.
P. He, J.C. Feng, B.G. Zhang, and Y.Y. Qian, Microstructure and strength of diffusion-bonded joints of TiAl base alloy to steel, Mater. Charact., 48(2002), No. 5, p. 401.
F.A. Calvo, A. Ureng, J.M. Gomez De Salazar, and F. Molleda, Special features of the formation of the diffusion bonded joints between copper and aluminium, J. Mater. Sci., 23(1988), No. 6, p. 2273.
X.R. Liu, C.D. Cao, and B. Wei, Microstructure evolution and solidification kinetics of undercooled Co-Ge eutectic alloys, Scripta Mater., 46(2002), No. 1, p. 13.
R.M. Jordan and J.D. Hunt, Morphological observations of the eutectic-dendrite breakdown in the Al-CuAl2 system, J. Cryst. Growth, 11(1971), No. 2, p. 141.
M. Aravind, P. Yu, M.Y. Yau, and D.H.L. Ng, Formation of Al2Cu and AlCu intermetallics in Al(Cu) alloy matrix composites by reaction sintering, Mater. Sci. Eng. A, 380(2004), No. 1–2, p. 384.
X.Y. Gu, D.Q. Sun, L. Liu, and Z.Z. Duan, Microstructure and mechanical properties of transient liquid phase bonded TiCP/AZ91D joints using copper interlayer, J. Alloys Compd., 476(2009), No. 1–2, p. 492.
M. Pouranvari, A. Ekrami, and A.H. Kokabi, Effect of bonding temperature on microstructure development during TLP bonding of a nickel base superalloy, J. Alloys Compd., 469(2009), No. 1–2, p. 270.
S. Devaraj, S. Sankaran, and R. Kumar, Influence of spark plasma sintering temperature on the densification, microstructure and mechanical properties of Al-4.5 wt.%Cu alloy, Acta Metall. Sin. Engl. Lett., 26(2013), No. 6, p. 761.
Q. Bai, Y.F. Hao, J. Wang, H. Man, Y.J. Tang, H. Xu, and S. Xia, Effect of cooling rate on the magnetic properties of Fe53Nd37Al10 alloy, Int. J. Miner. Metall. Mater., 20(2013), No. 5, p. 440.
H. Kawakami, J. Suzuki, and J. Nakajima, Bonding process of Al/Cu dissimilar bonding with liquefaction in air, Weld. Int., 21(2007), No. 12, p. 836.
K.S. Lee, Y.S. Lee, and Y.N. Kwon, Influence of secondary warm rolling on the interface microstructure and mechanical properties of a roll-bonded three-ply Al/Mg/Al sheet, Mater. Sci. Eng. A, 606(2014), p. 205.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Han, Yq., Ben, Lh., Yao, Jj. et al. Microstructural characterization of Cu/Al composites and effect of cooling rate at the Cu/Al interfacial region. Int J Miner Metall Mater 22, 94–101 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12613-015-1048-4
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12613-015-1048-4