PRESSING OF PARTIALLY OXIDE-DISPERSION-STRENGTHENED COPPER USING THE ECAP PROCESS

摘要

A combination of internal oxidation (IO) and equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) was used to explore the possibility of uniting the mechanisms of dispersion and deformation strengthening to improve the properties of a Cu-Al alloy with 0.4 % Al. The IO of Cu-Al billets served in the first step of the experiment as a means for dispersion, strengthening the mantle of the billets with a fine dispersion of nanosized oxide particles. The experimental procedure continued with deformation strengthening performed by ECAP, which allowed an intense plastic strain through simple shear.Material flow in a partly internally oxidized Cu-0.4 % Al billet and in a homogenous reference sample made of modelling mass was also studied to analyse, on the macroscale, the influence of the internal oxidation zone (10Z) on the material flow behaviour during the ECAP process. The analysis was performed with the aim of revealing the uniformity of the strain distribution and to obtain information about the deformation strengthening across the volume of the billet.We found that the oxide particles have a minor influence on the material flow on the macroscopic scale during the ECAP process. However, the degree of deformation strengthening in the IOZ was much lower than in the unoxidized core region. The combination of IO and ECAP allows us to produce a Cu composite composed of a hardened oxidized mantle region with good electrical and thermal conductivity and a high- hardened core region. This combination represents a new technological route for the production of high-hardness Cu composites, which could also be used at higher temperatures.