An Electrochemical Procedure to Form Metal Powders from Recycled Hard Particle Embedded Composite Cutting Tools

Used valuable particle embedded composite cutting tools, obtained by powder metallurgy techniques by mixing metallic powders with hard, abrasive particles were electrolyzed for reclamation of metallic powders and valuable particles. The effects of copper ion and sulfuric acid concentrations and pH of the electrolyte, current density and temperature on microstructure of produced copper powders were investigated in detail. Copper powders were characterized by X-Ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). SEM results indicated that dendritic structure of copper powders turn into compact, dense powders by controlling the electrodeposition conditions.