Abstract
The evolutions of the microstructure and its effect on the mechanical and electrical conductivity properties of Cu1.5Cr0.1Si alloy after equal channel angle pressing (ECAP)-C path deformation and aging treatment have been investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), x-ray diffraction (XRD), and electron back-scattered diffraction (EBSD). It was found that after the ECAP-C deformation at room temperature, with an extension of aging time, the strong (111) macro orientation formed in the Cu1.5Cr0.1Si alloy. The ultrafine crystals formed by ECAP and the rich chromium phase precipitated along grain boundaries during the aging process greatly improved the material strength. After aging at 350 °C for 4 h, the tensile strength, elongation, and conductivity reached 528 MPa, 15.27%, and 78.9% IACS, respectively. The fracture mode of the alloy was ductile fracture. The steady-oriented {111} <110> texture was beneficial to improving the conductivity of the material.
Highlights
The rapid development of electric power and emerging industries has increasingly demanded certain performance requirements of copper and copper alloy materials
The combination of super plastic deformation (SPD) and heat treatment processing is an effective method of improving the strength and conductivity of metal materials [5], of which equal channel angle pressing (ECAP) combined with aging treatment is one of the most effective methods in this field [6]
As a kind of SPD, the ECAP method has been gradually used for the preparation of bulk ultrafine-grained high-performance metal materials [7,8,9,10]
Summary
The rapid development of electric power and emerging industries has increasingly demanded certain performance requirements of copper and copper alloy materials. Traditional high alloying can greatly improve the strength of these materials [3,4]; it can seriously reduce the materials’. Improving the strength and toughness of materials without significantly reducing their electrical conductivity has become an important issue that researchers have focused on in recent years. The combination of super plastic deformation (SPD) and heat treatment processing is an effective method of improving the strength and conductivity of metal materials [5], of which equal channel angle pressing (ECAP) combined with aging treatment is one of the most effective methods in this field [6]. As a kind of SPD, the ECAP method has been gradually used for the preparation of bulk ultrafine-grained high-performance metal materials [7,8,9,10]. The ultrafine crystal materials have significantly better physical and mechanical properties than similar coarse-crystalline materials [11]
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