www.ccsenet.org/mas Modern Applied Science Vol. 5, No. 3; June 2011 ISSN 1913-1844 E-ISSN 1913-1852 234 Corrosion Behavior of Copper-Steel Particulate Composite J. T. AL-Haidary (Corresponding author) Production Engineering and Metallurgy, University of Technology P. O. Box (35010) - Baghdad- Iraq Tel: 964-77-00741979 E-mail: jalhaidry@yahoo.com Emad S. AL-Hassani Materials Engineering, University of Technology P. O. Box (35010) - Baghdad- Iraq Tel: 964-77-0252-4446 E-mail: emad2000x@yahoo.com Sheelan R. Areef Applied Science, University of Technology, Iraq E-mail: sheelanrafeeq@yahoo.com Received: February 24, 2011 Accepted: April 6, 2011 doi:10.5539/mas.v5n3p234 Abstract This work was conducted to study the corrosion behavior of the steel particle reinforced copper matrix composites, under different conditions; namely heat treatment, concentration of corrosion media, and different weight percent of steel particles. The density, corrosion rate, micro-structure, and Vickers micro-hardness, were investigated. The results showed that composites with limited steel particle contents can be used. The microstructure of the composites showed severe corrosion of the steel particles especially in the low steel particle content ones, which gave an effect more or less similar to the pitting corrosion. The Vickers micro-hardness showed a development in the hardness of the different zones of the composite due to the effect of the cold working and subsequent annealing, but yet with the same marked increment in micro-hardness at the particle-matrix interface. The later gave a strong indication that diffusion was taken place. Corrosion rate increased with increasing steel particle contents, because of severity corrosion in steel particles. Keywords: Metal matrix composite, Heat treatment, Corrosion, Potentiostat polarization 1. Introduction Metal matrix composites are materials with metals as a base and distinct, typically ceramic phases added to improve the properties. Although it is desired that these phases remain distinct and separate, reactions do occur between them. If this is the case, it affects the processing and final properties of the composites, regardless of which type of reinforcement is used (ASM Handbook. 2001). Reinforcement types include laminations, continuous fibers, discontinuous fibers, whiskers and particles of different morphologies are used. Each of these reinforcements affects the base metal in different subtle ways, but composites generally show improvement over the monolithic metal in, at least, one of the following properties: yield strength, hardness, tensile strength, wear resistance, coefficient of thermal expansion etc. Properties that depend on the system include thermal and electrical conductivities (William D. Callister, Jr. 2007). While metal matrix composites show great potential in these areas, they have only found limited use in actual industrial applications. Continuous fiber composites have been especially restrained, finding use only in high value parts in the aerospace field. This is due to the difficulty in processing of the materials, forcing manufacturers to offer them at high cost (Hatta, H., Aoi, T., Kawahara, I. and Kogo, Y. 2004). Discontinuous metal matrix composites, isotropic in nature, have more options and ease of preparation than continuously reinforced types, so that cost is lowered and acceptance is wider. However, even these materials are limited to a few industrial applications. For particle reinforced copper matrix composites, the main current commercial processing is done using the powder metallurgy technique i.e. mixing, compacting and