Balancing Thermal Management and Wear Resistance via Tungsten-Mediated Architectural Stabilization of Cu-Based Interpenetrating Phase Composites

Cu-based interpenetrating phase composites (IPCs) are candidate materials for sliding-contact applications in which thermal management, wear resistance, and electrical transport must be balanced. Herein, Cu–(CrWx)C IPCs were fabricated by pressureless infiltration using nominal W-addition indices x = 0, 10, 25, and 50, corresponding to 0, 10, 25, and 50 g W added per 100 g Cr2O3 rather than final W mass fractions. Microstructural characterization indicates that W addition changes the scale and connectivity of W-containing carbide regions while preserving a continuous Cu-rich network. Representative quasi-static compression curves illustrate the large-strain load-bearing response but are interpreted descriptively because independent replicate specimens were not available for every composition under an identical test matrix. All composites retain room-temperature electrical conductivities of 39.23–40.44% of the International Annealed Copper Standard (IACS). Cu–(CrW10)C reaches a thermal conductivity of 208.27 W m−1 K−1 at 500 °C and the lowest specific wear rate of 2.42 × 10−6 mm3 N−1 m−1. Worn-surface and cross-sectional observations show that its low material loss coexists with localized cracking and adhered/detached features, whereas higher nominal W additions promote carbide fragmentation, interfacial separation, and hard-debris-mediated abrasion. The thermo-tribological performance index (TTPI) and electrical-thermal-wear balance index (ETWBI), used as internal screening metrics, identify Cu–(CrW10)C as the most balanced composition within the present four-composition dataset. These results demonstrate that wear resistance is governed by the stability of the skeleton-supported tribologically modified layer and continuous Cu-network transport rather than by hardness or nominal W addition alone.