Reaction thermodynamics and kinetics on in-situ Al2O3/Cu composites

The preferred internal oxidation of aluminum in Cu-Al alloy was used to obtain in-situ Al2O3/Cu composites. The reinforcement particles were mainly γ-Al2O3, some θ-Al2O3 and a little α-Al2O3. Thermody namics analyses show that the chemical reactions are 3Cu2O + 2Al = 6Cu + Al2O3 or 3CuO + 2Al = 3Cu + Al2O3. A related equilibrium diagram was drawn. The experiments and investigation show that the formation rate of Al2O3 was controlled by the diffusion of oxygen in matrix.