Study on Microstructure and Properties of Cu–Fe Alloy Fabricated by Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing
ZHOU Xiangman1, 2, TAN Chenyu1, ZHAO Meiyun1, 2, ZHAO Xinze1, 2, XIONG Xiaochen1, 2, LI Mei3, YUAN Youlu1, 2
1. College of Mechanical and Power Engineering, China Three Gorges University, Yichang 443002, China;
2. Hubei Key Laboratory of Hydroelectric Machinery Design & Maintenance, China Three Gorges University, Yichang 443002, China;
3. College of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, China Three Gorges University, Yichang 443002, China
Copper-iron alloy has excellent electrical and thermal conductivity, excellent toughness and soft magnetic properties, and is an excellent electrical contact and electromagnetic shielding material, which has broad application prospects in electronic communication electrical contact devices and electromagnetic shielding equipment of aerospace, national defense and military industry. In this paper, copper-iron alloys with different copper mass fraction were prepared by double-wire arc additive manufacturing technology, and their microstructure, hardness, dynamic surface contact resistance and wear of carbon rods were tested by metallurgical microscope, Vickers hardness tester and currentcarrying friction and wear tester. The results demonstrate that as the copper mass fraction increases from 0 to 100%, the microstructure of the copper-iron alloy evolves from a continuous interlaced ferrite phase to a discrete spherical and dendritic distribution, ultimately forming a pure copper phase. At 60% copper mass fraction, the Cu-rich and Fe-rich phases exhibit the most uniform distribution. The hardness of the alloy initially increases and subsequently decreases with however, an excessive amount of copper leads to a decrease in hardness due to the increased presence of softer phases. The surface contact resistance progressively decreases with increasing copper content due to copper’s superior electrical conductivity. The wear of the carbon rod is influenced by the hardness of copper-iron alloys and the friction coefficient between the contact pairs, exhibiting a trend of first increasing and then decreasing: at low copper content, high hardness and friction coefficient exacerbate wear, while at high copper content, improved lubrication and heat dissipation performance mitigate wear.