Bai Yunlong, Ge Hui, Peng Yaoyang
Key Laboratory for Ecological Metallurgy of Multimetallic Ores (Ministry of Education), Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, China.
School of Metallurgy, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, China.
Materials (Basel). 2025 May 26;18(11):2489. doi: 10.3390/ma18112489.
As a pioneering exploration of gallium nitride (GaN) as reinforcement in metal matrix composites, this study systematically investigated the mechanical-electrical property evolution in copper matrix composites through controlled GaN incorporation-a research gap scarcely addressed previously. GaN-Cu composites with tailored GaN contents were successfully synthesized by precisely controlled mechanical alloying and powder metallurgical processing and exhibited exceptional mechanical-electrical synergies. Advanced microstructural characterization via X-ray diffraction and electron microscopy revealed the homogeneous dispersion of GaN nanoparticles within the Cu matrix, forming coherent interfacial structures. The characterization results show that GaN-Cu composites could be successfully prepared by mechanical alloying and powder metallurgy methods, and it was confirmed that GaN nanoparticles could improve the mechanical properties of metal matrix composites as reinforcement; with an exponential increase in GaN content, the decrease in conductivity became very slow. With an increase in GaN content, the electrical conductivity decreased in an "L" shape, while the hardness first increased and then decreased, but the hardness could reach up to 128.66 HV, which is about 130% higher than that of the substrate.
作为对氮化镓（GaN）作为金属基复合材料增强体的开创性探索，本研究通过控制GaN的掺入，系统地研究了铜基复合材料的机电性能演变，这是一个此前几乎未被涉及的研究空白。通过精确控制机械合金化和粉末冶金工艺，成功合成了具有定制GaN含量的GaN-Cu复合材料，并展现出优异的机电协同效应。通过X射线衍射和电子显微镜进行的先进微观结构表征揭示了GaN纳米颗粒在铜基体中的均匀分散，形成了连贯的界面结构。表征结果表明，通过机械合金化和粉末冶金方法可以成功制备GaN-Cu复合材料，并且证实了GaN纳米颗粒作为增强体能够改善金属基复合材料的力学性能；随着GaN含量呈指数增加，电导率的下降变得非常缓慢。随着GaN含量的增加，电导率呈“L”形下降，而硬度先增加后下降，但硬度最高可达128.66 HV，比基体硬度高出约130%。
