Preparation of Cu-Ni alloys through a new chemical route

Abstract

A copper-nickel alloy has been prepared from an aqueous solution of the nitrates of copper and nickel, through co-formation of their ultrafine mixed oxides, by heating around 650 K followed by reduction with hydrogen at a very low temperature (below 623 K). The effect of temperature (473 to 623 K) on the kinetics of the hydrogen reduction of the co-formed oxides of Ni and Cu has been studied. The activation energy of the reduction reaction has been calculated and found to be 35.8 kJ/mole. A mechanism for the kinetics of the process has been suggested. It has been possible to get high-purity Cu-Ni alloy powder (50 at. pct each) free of any detectable oxygen, from their co-formed oxides, by hydrogen reduction at 623 K in less than 20 minutes. Although the X-ray analysis of the co-formed oxides has shown separate peaks for CuO and NiO, the alloy powder has exhibited a single peak with a d spacing lying in between those of Cu and Ni. It is suggested that the alloying of the two metals has taken place during the H2 reduction of nanosized oxide particles of copper and nickel, prepared by the aforementioned chemical route. The alloy powder has been sintered at 1273 K. The density and hardness of the consolidated alloy have been measured and found to be close to the theoretical values. The alloy has also been subjected to cold reduction and annealing, in addition to metallograph examination and characterization by a scanning electron microscope (SEM), to confirm the homogeneity of the alloy.