Ice-Templated W-Cu Composites with High Anisotropy

TL;DR

This paper presents a novel ice-templating method to create highly anisotropic tungsten-copper composites, enhancing electrical and mechanical properties for energy applications.

Contribution

The study introduces an ice-templating technique to produce anisotropic W-Cu composites, offering a new approach compared to traditional powder metallurgy.

Findings

Anisotropic growth of ice walls directs composite structure.

Enhanced electrical and mechanical properties in anisotropic composites.

Potential for designing a wide range of directional load-bearing materials.

Abstract

Controlling anisotropy in self-assembled structures enables engineering of materials with highly directional response. Here, we harness the anisotropic growth of ice walls in a thermal gradient to assemble an anisotropic refractory metal structure, which is then infiltrated with Cu to make a composite. Using experiments and simulations, we demonstrate on the specific example of tungsten-copper composites the effect of anisotropy on the electrical and mechanical properties. The results are compared to isotropic tungsten-copper composites fabricated by standard powder metallurgical methods. Our results have the potential to fuel the development of more efficient materials, used in electrical power grids and solar-thermal energy conversion systems. The method presented here can be used with a variety of refractory metals and ceramics, which fosters the opportunity to design and functionalize a vast class of new anisotropic load-bearing hybrid metal composites with highly directional properties.