Ultrafine grained strips of precipitation hardened copper alloys

Abstract

Precipitation strengthened copper belongs to a group of functional and structural materials applied where combination of high electrical conductivity with high strength is required. A growing trend to use the new copper-based functional materials is observed recently world-wide. Within this group of materials particular attention is drawn to those with ultrafine grain size of a copper matrix. This study was aimed to investigate mechanical properties and microstructure in strips of age-hardenable copper alloys processed by continuous repetitive corrugation and straightening (CRCS). Tests were performed on 0.8 mm thick, CuCr0.6 and CuNi2Sil alloys strips annealed at 650°C for 1 hour. The specially designed construction of die set (toothed rolls and plain rolls set) installed on tensile testing machine was applied for deformation process. The changes of mechanical properties (HV, ultimate tensile strength, 0,2 yield strength) as well as microstructure evolution versus number of deformation cycles were studied. The microstructure was observed with optical and electron microscopes (TEM and SEM equipped with EBSD). The CRCS process effectively reduced the grain size of CuCr0.6 and CuNi2Sil alloys strips, demonstrating the CRCS as a promising new method for producing ultra-fine grained metallic strips.