Effect of Grain Refinement on the Comprehensive Mechanical Performance of W-Cu Composites.

W-Cu composites are commonly subjected to coupled multiple fields in service, which imposes high requirements on their overall performance. In this study, the ultrafine-grained W-Cu composite was fabricated using the combination of electroless plating and spark plasma sintering. The wear resistance and high-temperature compressive properties of the ultrafine-grained W-Cu composite were investigated and compared with those of the commercial coarse-grained counterpart. Moreover, the underlying strengthening and wear mechanisms were also discussed. Here we show that the ultrafine-grained W-Cu composite exhibits superior integrated mechanical performance, making it a potential alternative to commercial W-Cu composites.