Abstract
In the present study, elemental Cu powder was mechanically milled to reduce the grain (crystalline) size to the nanorange (< 100 nm). The powder was consolidated by die cold compaction. Omitting the sintering process, the powder compacts of 10 h mechanically milled powder and elemental powder without mechanical milling (0 h mechanically milled) were hot extruded at different temperatures to maintain a crystallite size within the nanoregime. Characterisation revealed that samples with relatively lower grain size (63 nm/10 h mechanically milled) exhibited reduced density and ductility, similar dimensional stability, and significantly enhanced hardness, 0.2% yield strength, and ultimate tensile strength. Particular emphasis was placed on correlating the properties of the samples with their microstructural features.
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