High strength, electrical conductivity and thermostability of nanostructured Cu-0.5Cr-0.2Zr alloy produced by equal channel angular pressing, cold rolling and aging

Abstract

The possibility of achieving high strength (690 MPa) with sufficient electrical conductivity (69% IACS) in Cu-0.5Cr-0.2Zr alloy (wt%) as a result of the formation of a nanostructured (NS) state using a combination of severe plastic deformation (SPD), cold rolling (CR) and aging has been demonstrated. The formed NS state is characterized by an ultrafine-grained (UFG) structure with nanoscale dispersed particles of the second phases. NS state remains stable after exposure at 450 °C for 5 hours. At the same time, the drop in microhardness does not exceed 10%. The resulting combination of enhanced properties exceeds the literature values known to the authors for this alloy.