Contribution of structural parameters to the strength and electrical conductivity of Cu-0.5%Cr alloy subjected to ECAP and cold rolling

Abstract

The effect of cold rolling with a reduction rate of 95% at room temperature and subsequent aging on the evolution of the microstructure, strength properties and electrical conductivity of the Cu-0.5Cr alloy (wt.%), which is widely used in the electrical industry in the form of strips and ribbons, has been studied. The cold rolling and aging of the alloy was carried out in coarse-grained and ultrafine-grained states after equal-channel angular pressing. The regularities found were used to assess the contribution of various structural parameters to the level of strength properties as well as the electrical conductivity of the alloy in the obtained states.

The Cold Angular Rolling Process of Copper Sheets: Unraveling Plastic Deformation Behavior and Unveiling Microstructural Transformations

“…These values are reasonable when compared to pure and alloyed Cu after two‐step plastic deformation processes at room temperature, such as 0.57 × 10 14 m −2 of pure Cu after ECAP + HPT [ 53 ] and 2.19 × 10 14 m −2 of Cu–0.5% Cr after ECAP + cold rolling. [ 67 ] The processes at cryogenic temperature can prohibit the dislocation motions for recrystallization, thereby maintaining high dislocation density, such as ≈1.8 × 10 15 m −2 of pure Cu after ECAP + cryo rolling [ 68 ] and ≈4.0 × 10 15 m −2 of Cu–Cr–Zn after ECAP + cryo rolling. [ 69 ] These reports can support the assertion that the present microstructural changes in the Cu sheets include recrystallization.…”

“…For comparison purposes, representative studies on Cu and its alloys processed by these SPD techniques are summarized and compared with the present work. Table 4 shows the summary of the continuous [ 10,54–56,99–111 ] and multiple‐step SPD techniques [ 11,53,57,67–69,71,73,112–124 ] on pure Cu and alloys with the processing condition, imposed strain, final grain size d, achieved hardness value, yield strength , ultimate tensile strength , elongation δ , tensile strain rates applied for acquiring the mechanical properties, and references.…”

“…An FEM study demonstrated that CARP may display challenges in processing hard metals, such as steel, due to the introduction of tremendously high stresses in the CARP tools. [14] 2018), [117] (2021) [68] Cu (99 2019), [120] Sarkeeva and Alexandrov (2020) [67] Cu-1. 2020) [69] Cu-0.…”

“…For comparison purposes, representative studies on Cu and its alloys processed by these SPD techniques are summarized and compared with the present work. Table 4 shows the summary of the continuous [10,[54][55][56][99][100][101][102][103][104][105][106][107][108][109][110][111] and multiple-step SPD techniques [11,53,57,[67][68][69]71,73,[112][113][114][115][116][117][118][119][120][121][122][123][124] on pure Cu and alloys with the processing condition, imposed strain, final 2020) [54] Cu (99.99%) SRAR (%15 mm s À1 , route A, 6 passes) %0.6 per pass 5.2 100-120 343.7 388.5 13.9 1.0 Â 10 À3 Lee et al ( 2018), [105] (2019) [106] Cu (99.99%) SRAR (%15 mm s À1 , route C, 6 passes) 2020) [107] Cu-0.…”

“…A conventional plot of yield strength versus ductility illustrating the relationship between yield strength and ductility generated by adapting a previously published plot [16] for pure Cu and alloys after continuous [10,[54][55][56][99][100][101][102][103][104][105][106][107][108][109][110][111] and multiple-step SPD processes. [11,53,57,[67][68][69]71,73,[112][113][114][115][116][117][118][119][120][121][122][123][124] The white circles are a set of representative datum points for Cu after different cold rolling percentages, [16] Cu alloys from the database [127] are shown in gray, and a dotted curve shows a border for the classic strength and ductility limit for general Cu alloys.…”