Enhancing wear resistance, hardness, and thermal conductivity of copper diamond composites through optimization strategies

This study investigates optimizing wear resistance, hardness, and thermal conductivity in copper diamond composites. Despite copper’s exceptional thermal and electrical properties, maintaining wear resistance at high temperatures remains a challenge. We address this by incorporating diamond particles into copper matrices using powder metallurgy. Through Taguchi and ANOVA analyses, we examine SEM microstructure, and mechanical properties, with a focus on wear performance. Employing the desirability function in Minitab 17 for optimization, we identify an optimal parameter set: 3 % volume diamond, 68.18 N applied load, and 7500 m sliding distance. The resulting wear loss of 24.736 m³, with a desirability rating exceeding 99.6 %, promises practical applications in wear-critical industries like aerospace and automotive.