Facile fabrication and enhanced properties of Cu-40 wt% Zn/WC nanocomposite

High loading of WC nanoparticles was successfully incorporated into the alloy system Cu-40 wt% Zn by molten salt stirring method. Given the energy balance of thermal energy, van der Waals interaction and inter-particle barrier, the expected pseudo-dispersion of WC was stable. In order to evaluate the materials functional applicability, the mechanical, electrical and anti-corrosion properties of fabricated Cu-40 wt% Zn/WC nanocomposite were measured and theoretically analyzed; with an increase of WC nanoparticles to 23.0 vol%, the microhardness increases to -200.00 HV and the Young's modulus to -179.00 GPa. Even though the electrical conductivity decreases to similar to 4.17 MS/m, the corrosion rate for Cu-40 wt% Zn/WC is significantly lowered (0.017 mm/yr for 12.5 vol% WC). (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.