Corrosion and mechanical behavior evaluation of in-situ synthesized Cu-TiB۲ nanocomposite

In this paper, the synthesis of the copper matrix nanocomposite and the effect of adding TiB۲ nanoparticles on the copper matrix have been investigated. Three different amounts of TiB۲ nanoparticles ۵, ۱۰, and ۱۵ wt% were added and sintering was carried out at ۹۰۰ °C for ۴ hours under argon atmosphere. The phase formation of achieved nanocomposites was studied by X-ray diffractometer and the morphology of the synthesized samples was studied by field emission scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. The polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) applying ۳.۵ wt% NaCl solution at room temperature was carried out to evaluate the corrosion behavior of synthesized samples. Results show that adding the TiB۲ nanoparticles decreases the corrosion resistance by forming galvanic couples, but the effect the amounts of porosities have on the corrosion resistance is higher. It is revealed that the variation of the surface roughness is in direct relation to the value of polarization current density.