Grain Refinement and Mechanical Properties of Cu–Cr–Zr Alloys with Different Nano-Sized TiC(p) Addition

The TiC(p)/Cu master alloy was prepared via thermal explosion reaction. Afterwards, the nano-sized TiC(p)/Cu master alloy was dispersed by electromagnetic stirring casting into the melting Cu–Cr–Zr alloys to fabricate the nano-sized TiC(p)-reinforced Cu–Cr–Zr composites. Results show that nano-sized TiC(p) can effectively refine the grain size of Cu–Cr–Zr alloys. The morphologies of grain in Cu–Cr–Zr composites changed from dendritic grain to equiaxed crystal because of the addition and dispersion of nano-sized TiC(p). The grain size decreased from 82 to 28 μm with the nano-sized TiC(p) content. Compared with Cu–Cr–Zr alloys, the ultimate compressive strength (σ(UCS)) and yield strength (σ(0.2)) of 4 wt% TiC(p)-reinforced Cu–Cr–Zr composites increased by 6.7% and 9.4%, respectively. The wear resistance of the nano-sized TiCp-reinforced Cu–Cr–Zr composites increased with the increasing nano-sized TiCp content. The wear loss of the nano-sized TiC(p)-reinforced Cu–Cr–Zr composites decreased with the increasing TiC(p) content under abrasive particles. The eletrical conductivity of Cu–Cr–Zr alloys, 2% and 4% nano-sized TiCp-reinforced Cu–Cr–Zr composites are 64.71% IACS, 56.77% IACS and 52.93% IACS, respectively.