In the present work, a CuCrZr alloy characterized by ultrafine grains and nanoscale particles was prepared by equalchannel angular pressing (ECAP) at 450°C. A desired combination of a tensile strength (580 MPa) and an electrical conductivity (81% International Annealed Copper Standard) is simultaneously obtained in the as-ECAP-processed CuCrZr alloy without additional aging treatment. The improved properties can be mainly attributed to the ultrafine grains and nanoscale precipitates. This processing may pave a way to develop the CuCrZr alloys having high strength and high electrical conductivity for engineering applications.

As the second largest machinery industry, the energy-intensive cable industry not only creates a lot of economic value but also consumes a lot of energy. It is an inevitable requirement to promote the technological development of the industry in the new era to improve the quality and efficiency and realise industrial energy-saving and consumption reduction. In order to obtain good strength and conductivity, the metal rods of cable are usually heat-treated for several hours or even several days after the rods are extruded, this is a major energy consuming process in traditional production. Based on the background, this study adopted the energy-saving equal-channel angular pressing (ECAP) technology to replace the traditional heating treatment process, and converted the simple heat conduction with thermo-mechanical energy transfer, so as to realise the good strength and conductivity matching of the cable aluminum alloy material. In this study, energy-saving ECAP technology is used to replace the traditional heat treatment process, and heat-mechanical energy transfer is used to replace the simple heat conduction, so as to achieve good strength and conductivity matching of cable aluminum alloy material. The results show that the suitable ECAP process routes can improve the microstructure of aluminum alloy with higher strength and conductivity than the traditional heating process. The research results can be used for technology upgrading and low carbon production in cable industry due to the significantly time reduction of the energy-consuming heat treatment and the high-efficient obtainment of high-quality production.

No abstract

Ti 49.2 Ni 50.8 shape memory alloy (SMA) was processed by equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) for eight passes at 450˝C. The deformation homogeneity was analyzed on various planes across the thickness by Deform-3D software. Strain standard deviation (SSD) was used to quantify deformation homogeneity. The simulation result shows that the strain homogeneity is optimized by the third pass. Deformation homogeneity of ECAP was analyzed experimentally using microhardness measurements. Experimental results show that the gradual evolution of hardness with increasing numbers of passes existed and the optimum homogeneity was achieved after three passes. This is in good agreement with simulation results.

No abstract