%0 Journal Article
%A Barcena, Jorge
%A Maudes, Jon
%A Coleto, Javier
%A Baldonedo, Juan L.
%A Gomez de Salazar, Jose M.
%T Microstructural study of vapour grown carbon nanofibre/copper composites
%D 2008
%@ 0266-3538
%X Vapour grown carbon nanofibres from different manufacturers have been incorporated into copper in order to obtain metal-matrix composites with high volume fraction of reinforcement. The manufacturing route involved copper deposition by the electroless plating technique and further hot-pressing of the composite powders. A material with porosity less than 1% was obtained. The microstructure was investigated by scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. After hot-pressing the carbon nanofibres were seen to be homogeneously dispersed in the matrix and showed a random planar distribution. Despite the poor wetting between copper and carbon, the Cu/C interface formed was continuous. The matrix was composed of grains in the nanometric range, suggesting that the nanofibres act as grain growth inhibitors.
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