Strength of Cu-28 wt%Ag composite solidified under high magnetic field followed by cold drawing

Abstract

Cu-Ag composite is one of the best conductors for high-field magnets. Increasing its strength is crucial for designing newer high-field magnets. Cu-28 wt%Ag samples were solidified with and without a 12-T high magnetic field (HMF), and then cold-drawn. We investigated the influence of HMF on microstructure, hardness and strength of Cu-Ag samples both before and after cold-drawing. The introduction of external HMF during solidification increased both the dendrite arm spacing and the dissolved Ag in Cu, and it reduced the spacing between both the Ag precipitates in proeutectic Cu and the eutectic lamellae. The transversal microstructure after cold-drawing inherited the network solidification structure, but at a refined scale. The Cu dendrite spacing in the 12-T HMF samples at all deformation strain was larger than that without HMF. HMF slightly increased the intensity of fiber texture of Cu, which strengthened proeutectic Cu at the level of 3.5 deformation strain. In samples deformed to strain of 3.5, refined Ag precipitation spacing, increased Ag solubility in Cu matrix, and refined eutectic lamellar spacing by 12-T HMF increased the strength by 5% in the sample compared with that without HMF.