Preparation and Properties of Cu/Rgo Composites Via H2 Reduction and Spark Plasma Sintering

In this work, copper/reduced graphene oxide (Cu/RGO) mixed powder was produced by hydrogen-reduction (H 2 reduction) with graphene oxide (GO) and nano-copper oxide powder as raw materials. The Cu/RGO composite was sintered through spark plasma sintering (SPS). The effects of RGO content and sintering conditions on the relative density, hardness and electrica l conductivity of the composite were investigated. The results show that the GO and copper oxide powder can be completely reduced via H 2 reduction when sintered at 500 °C for 8 h. Moreover, as the content of RGO increases from 0 wt% to 0.67 wt%, the hardness and electrical conductivity increases firstly and then decrease. When the content of RGO is 0.33 wt%, the hardness and electrical conductivity of the composite reach the largest, respectively 98.6 HV and 80.5% IACS. The hardness and electrical conductivity are maximum for the composite sintered at 600 °C, further increase in sintering temperature lowers properties of the composite. The Cu/RGO composite sintered at 600 °C, exhibits high hardness of 193.9 HV and electrical conductivity of 89.8% IACS