Comparative Study on the Compression Sintering Performance of Different Kinds of Copper-Chromium Powder Applied to Electrical Contact Materials

Abstract In this paper, the pressing and sintering properties of three kinds of copper-coated chromium composite powder and copper-chromium mechanical mixed powder with the same copper content were compared and studied. The copper-coated chromium composite powder was prepared by a diffusion sintering method, a liquid electroless plating method, and a diffusion sintering method with an added binder. The results show that with the increase in copper content, the pressing advantage of copper-clad chromium powder is more obvious. The density, hardness, and size shrinkage of the sintered sample are more stable. Moreover, the uniform distribution of Cu and Cr in the copper-coated chromium powder sintered sample can effectively improve the composition uniformity of Cu Cr electrical contact alloy.