Development of pulse-electroformed Cu/SiC composite tubes with enhanced mechanical and anti-corrosion properties

Traditional manufacturing technologies have several limitations to produce precise, small-scale tubular structures while retaining the required functional capabilities. To address this issue, the current work proposes a cost-effective approach for the manufacturing of composite-tubular structures using an “in-house pulse electroforming” setup. With the above-mentioned technique, we have been able to fabricate sustainable composite microtubes with an unprecedented thickness of a mere 20 μm, a feat that has eluded scientific exploration until now. Nanosized SiC particles were also integrated into the Cu matrix to improve the mechanical (via microhardness and compression testing) and corrosion characteristics. The impact of different process variables, such as pulse frequency and duty cycle on surface morphology, microhardness, compression, corrosion, and hydrophobicity were investigated. Cu/SiC microtube exhibits a maximum hardness of 160 HV, which is substantially higher than that of the bare Cu microtubes. The Cu/SiC composite microtubes also exhibit 51% anticorrosion efficiency and approximately two times higher impedance than bare copper microtubes. Furthermore, the compression test confirms the strength of the electroformed Cu/SiC microtubes. Additionally, prediction models for microhardness of structures were developed using Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) and Artificial Neural Network (ANN). Compared to the ANN model, which produced an R 2 value of 0.96, the ANFIS model showed more accurate predictions of microhardness values, with an R 2 value of 0.99. This fabrication methodology can be envisioned for developing precise, conductive, and anticorrosive tubular structures for various engineering applications. Graphical abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.].