Microstructure evolution of single crystal copper wires in cold drawing

Abstract

The deformation microstructure evolution of single crystal copper wires produced by OCC method has been studied with the help of TEM, EBSD and OM. The results show that there are a small number of dendrites and twins in the undeformed single crystal copper wires. However, it is difficult to observe these dendrites in deformed single crystal copper wires. The structure evolution of deformed single crystal copper wires during drawing process can be divided into three stages. When the true strain is lower than 0.94, macroscopic subdivision of grains is not evident, and the microscopic evolution of deformed structure is that the cells are formed and elongated in drawn direction. When the true strain is between 0.94 and 1.96, macroscopic subdivision of grains takes place, and the number of microbands located on {111} and cell blocks is much more than that with the true strain lower than 0.94. When the true strain is larger than 1.96, the macroscopic subdivision of grains becomes more evident than that with the true strain between 0.94 and 1.96, and S-bands structure and lamellar boundaries will be formed. From EBSD analysis, it is found that part of 〈100〉 texture resulting from solidifying is transformed into 〈111〉 and 〈112〉 due to shear deformation, but 〈100〉 texture component is still kept in majority. When the true strain is 0.94, the misorientation angle of dislocation boundaries resulting from deformation is lower than 14°. However, when the true strain arrives at 1.96, the misorientation angle of some boundaries will be greater than 50°, and the peak of misorientation angle distribution produced by texture evolution is located in the range between 25° and 30°.