Effect of degree of cold work and annealing temperature on the microstructure and properties of cold drawn copper wires and tubes

Abstract

This work gives the results of influence of temperature and deformation degree on changes in the metal grain growth of drawn copper products, because this mutual dependence was observed. Wire samples of O.F.H.C. copper and copper tube samples, chemical content of 99·97% Cu and 0·024% P, were exposed to recrystallized annealing after drawing. The annealing was carried out at temperatures of 400, 450, 500, 550 and 600°C, for 30 min, in laboratory conditions. Investigation results show that after drawing with high cold deformation degree (96–99%), the annealing leads to the changes in the continuous grain growth with increased temperature. The smaller grain size appears at 550°C in comparison with the lower annealing temperature. Annealing has influence on mechanical characteristics of tested samples and during drawing of copper products these characteristics are adequately changed: with regard to the annealing at the 500°C, the characteristics of strength and plasticity increase as a result of decreased grain size. The increase of annealing temperature to 600°C leads to the increased grain size and decreased values of strength and plasticity characteristics.