DSC Analysis of the Effect of Cold Deformation on the Precipitation Kinetics of a Binary Cu-Sc Alloy

Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate the effect of cold deformation on the precipitation kinetics of a binary CuSc alloy containing 0.4 wt.% scandium using the experimental analysis method of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Non-deformed and 75% cross-section-reduced cold-rolled supersaturated specimens were tested in non-isothermal DSC runs at up to five different heating rates. The DSC results showed that cold rolling significantly accelerated the precipitation process in the binary alloy, leading to a decrease in the initial and peak temperatures of the exothermic reactions. The activation energies calculated with the Kissinger method indicated that the precipitation activation energy decreased with increasing cold deformation. The findings of this study provide worthy implications to further optimize the processing of Cu-Sc alloys with improved mechanical properties.

Analyzing the Precipitation Effects in Low-Alloyed Copper Alloys Containing Hafnium and Chromium

“…Consequently, CuCr0.7Hf0.35 was heat-treated at 1000 Afterwards, some of the binary alloy specimens were cold rolled with a thickness reduction of 25%, 50%, and 75%, respectively, with a deformation ratio of up to ϕ = 1.4, using a duo roll stand (0.25 mm equidistant feed rate, roll diameter 110 mm, rotation speed 27 min −1 ) (Bühler, Pforzheim, Germany). Material processing was generally identical to the related research [6,[47][48][49].…”

“…The heating rate was chosen with respect to mainly used experimental setups for visualizing precipitation processes in aluminum, magnesium, and copper alloys [6,[49][50][51][52]. A higher heating rate shifts visible exothermic peaks to higher temperatures during the experiment, pointing out the thermally activated and kinetically controlled solid-state reactions [32,35,49]. For metallographic investigations, the experiment was conducted up to a chosen relevant temperature, followed by 1 min of holding and cooling.…”

“…The solution-annealed and quenched cylindric specimens (117 mg) were heated with a rate of 10 K/min up to 800 • C, where the temperature was held for 1 min, followed by cooling with the same temperature gradient. The heating rate was chosen with respect to mainly used experimental setups for visualizing precipitation processes in aluminum, magnesium, and copper alloys [6,[49][50][51][52]. A higher heating rate shifts visible exothermic peaks to higher temperatures during the experiment, pointing out the thermally activated and kinetically controlled solid-state reactions [32,35,49].…”