Effect of graphene addition on properties of Cu-based composites for electrical contacts

In this paper, graphene was used as an additive in Cu-based composites employed as electrical contacts. In order to solve the problem of interface bonding between graphene and copper matrix, electroless silver coating on graphene and copper powder were investigated. The Gr/Cu composites were prepared by ball milling and cold compacting sintering process. The mechanical and physicochemical properties including hardness, relative density, conductivity and oxidation resistance were tested. Based on the comprehensive analysis of the microstructure and properties of the materials, the optimum additive amount of graphene was 0.2 wt.%. The relative density, hardness, oxidation weight gain and IACS of the materials obtained by the optimum process parameters were 90.0%, 53.4HB, 1.6 mg cm−2 and 76.2%, respectively.