A. Morozova

Grain refinement and strengthening of a Cu–0.1Cr–0.06Zr alloy subjected to equal channel angular pressing

Abstract The grain refinement and mechanical properties of a Cu–0.1Cr–0.06Zr alloy subjected to equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) at a temperature of 673 K were examined. The microstructure evolution was characterised by the development of a large number of low-angle subboundaries at small strains. An increase in the true strain resulted in gradual transformation of low-angle subboundaries into high-angle grain boundaries that was assisted by the deformation micro-banding. The development of new ultra-fine grains was considered as a kind of continuous dynamic recrystallization, the kinetics of which was characterised by a sigmoid-type dependence on strain and could be expressed by a modified Johnson–Mehl–Avrami–Kolmogorov equation. ECAP led to significant strengthening of the alloy. The yield strength increased from 105 MPa in the initial state to 390 MPa after 8 ECAP passes. A modified Hall–Petch relationship was applied to analyse the contributions of grain refinement and dislocation density to the overall strengthening. In spite of significant strengthening, the electro-conductivity remained at a level of 80% IACS.

Grain Refinement Kinetics in a Low Alloyed Cu-Cr-Zr Alloy Subjected to Large Strain Deformation

This paper investigates the microstructural evolution and grain refinement kinetics of a solution-treated Cu–0.1Cr–0.06Zr alloy during equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) at a temperature of 673 K via route BC. The microstructural change during plastic deformation was accompanied by the formation of the microband and an increase in the misorientations of strain-induced subboundaries. We argue that continuous dynamic recrystallization refined the initially coarse grains, and discuss the dynamic recrystallization kinetics in terms of grain/subgrain boundary triple junction evolution. A modified Johnson–Mehl–Avrami–Kolmogorov relationship with a strain exponent of about 1.49 is used to express the strain dependence of the triple junctions of high-angle boundaries. Severe plastic deformation by ECAP led to substantial strengthening of the Cu–0.1Cr–0.06Zr alloy. The yield strength increased from 60 MPa in the initial state to 445 MPa after a total strain level of 12.

Effect of Deformation Structure on Strength of a Low Alloyed Cu-Cr-Zr Alloy

The microstructure evolution and strength properties of a Cu-0.096%Cr-0.057%Zr alloy subjected to equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) at a temperature of 673 K via route BC to total strains of 1 to 4 were examined. The planar low-angle boundaries with moderate misorientations form within initial grains during the first ECAP passes. Upon further processing the misorientations of these boundaries progressively increase and the formation of new ultrafine grains occurs as a result of continuous dynamic recrystallization. Partially recrystallized ultrafine grained structure evolves at strains above 4. After straining to 4 the (sub) grain size attains 0.65 μm. The large plastic straining provides significant strengthening. The ultimate tensile strength increases from 190 MPa in the initial state to 420 MPa after 4 ECAP passes. A modified Hall-Petch analysis is applied to investigate the contribution of grain refinement and dislocation density to the overall strengthening.