The surface treatment of the carbon fiber before plating and the processing parameters of electroless plating surface were investigated

and the morphology and composition of copper-coated carbon fibers were observed by SEM（scanning electron microscopy）and XRD（X-ray diffraction）.The short carbon fiber reinforced copper matrix composites were prepared by powder metallurgy.The influences of the short carbon fiber volume fraction on the density

hardness and electrical conductivity of the composites prepared were analyzed.The results show that the satisfied degumming process of carbon fiber can be obtained with burning at 380 ℃ for 30 min.Compared with ultrasonic dispersion or magnetical stirring

electric stirring exhibits the better effects in the dispersity of short carbon fiber

which can realize the uniform dense electroless deposition.With the increase of the short carbon fiber volume fraction

the density and electrical conductivity of the composites are decreased

and the hardness of the composites is increased at first and then decreased.With the content of copper-coated carbon fibers of 12.5 %

the hardness of the composites prepared reaches up to the maximum value.The physical properties of copper based composites with the copper-coated carbon fibers are superior to that of ones without copper-coated carbon fibers.