In this paper, Cu-coated graphite sintered body for weight reduction and high thermal conductivity was fabricated using a chemical reaction process and pulsed current activated sintering process. First, 4 g of coarsening graphite powders, which was treated using an activation and wetting process, was added to an aqueous solution of copper (Cu) sulfate; also, 35 g of zinc (Zn) powders was added as a transposition solvent to the aqueous solution, and stirred for 1 h for a transposition reaction. After the addition of the fabricated powders mixture to a 75 wt.% DI water : 10 wt.% H3PO4 : 10 wt.% H2SO4: 5 wt.% mixture, tartaric acid was added to the aqueous solution to produce a passivating oxide film, followed by drying for 24 h. The low-intensity oxide peak of the XRD pattern of the fabricated powders was due to the suitable Zn powder content. The Cucoated graphite powder was used to carry out direction control for high thermal conductivity. Cu-coated graphite sintered bodies were fabricated using a pulsed current activated sintering (PCAS) process. The Cu-graphite sintered bodies were sintered at 850 oC with heating rate steps of 20 and 30 oC/min, respectively. The Cu-coated graphite powders and compacts were evaluated using FE-SEM, EDS, XRD, TEM, particle analysis, Archimedes' method, electronic conductivity, thermal coefficient, and thermal conductivity.

Keywords: Chemical reaction process, Cu-coated graphite, Microstructures, Electric conductivity, Thermal conductivity.