Copper-Infiltrated Steels^[1]

The two most important classes of materials that are manufactured via infiltration methods are copper- and silver-infiltrated refractory metals and refractory carbides, and copper-infiltrated steels. This article focuses on copper-infiltrated steels and discusses the basic requirements for infiltration, which is a technique that is only applicable to material systems that meet certain requirements. It addresses these requirements and describes the conventional (partial) infiltration process of powder metallurgy (PM) steel. The materials used in the process, such as matrix and infiltrant, are discussed. The article also details several criteria used to evaluate the performance of an infiltration process. It concludes with information on alloy steels and fully infiltrated steels.