Preparation of W-Cu Composite Powders by Hydrogen Reduction of WO₃ And Copper Nitrate Mixture

The synthesis of fine W composite powder with homogeneously dispersed Cu particles was investigated. Commercial or ultrasonic spray pyrolysis WO₃ powders were used as source materials of W, and copper nitrate was added and hydrogen-reduced to finally fabricate W-Cu composite powder. The reduced powder prepared using ultrasonic spray pyrolysis WO₃ powder exhibited a spherical agglomerate composed of fine particles and pores, whereas that using commercial WO₃ showed relatively fine particles with a size of about 200 nm. TEM analysis revealed that Cu elements were uniformly distributed in the composite powder. These results help to optimize the synthesis process of homogeneous W-Cu nanocomposite powders.