Interfacial Engineering of Hot‐Pressed Cu–Co–WC Hybrid Composites for Concurrent Hardening, Wear Suppression, and Corrosion Control

Cu‐based sliding‐contact materials require abalance of hardness, wear resistance, corrosion stability, and structural integrity. Pure Cu and Cu–Co, Cu–WC, and Cu–Co–WC composites were fabricated by powder processing followed by pressure‐assisted solid‐state hot pressing at 700 °C under 35 MPa for 60 min in Ar. The hybrid architecture combines WC as a hard load‐bearing constituent with Co‐containing metallic regions that enhance local matrix constraint, contact continuity, and reinforcement retention. Correlated SEM/EDX, XRD, density, hardness, dry‐sliding, and electrochemical analyses were used to establish the corresponding structure–property relationships. All compositions achieved relative densities above 99.5%. Cu remained the dominant crystalline matrix, while WC‐related diffraction features were retained in the WC‐containing compositions. Hardness increased from 57 HV30 for pure Cu to 156 HV30 for Cu–3Co–3WC. The same composition exhibited the lowest specific wear rate, 3.31 × 10 −5 mm 3 N −1 m −1 , corresponding to a 90.47% reduction relative to pure Cu. Pure Cu exhibited the lowest absolute corrosion rate, whereas Cu–3Co–3WC showed the lowest corrosion rate among the reinforced compositions. Thus, Cu–3Co–3WC provided the most favorable combined mechanical, tribological, and electrochemical response among the reinforced materials investigated.