The enhancement in tensile properties of a Cu2.0 mass%Ni0.5 mass%Si0.1 mass%Zr alloy without reducing its electrical conductivity is attempted by combining both accumulative roll-bonding (ARB) and cryo-rolling with aging treatment. The grain sizes of the alloy pre-aged at 450°C and ARB-processed in six cycles (P-ARB) and of the alloy pre-aged at 450°C and cryo-rolled to a 90% reduction (P-90CR) are refined to about 0.1 and 0.2 µm, respectively. Both six cycles of ARB and 90% cryo-rolling, together with the presence of fine precipitates formed by preaging at 450°C, give significant grain refinement. The P-90CR alloy aged at 350°C exhibits a higher 0.2% proof stress of 830 MPa and a higher tensile strength of · u = 900 MPa than the P-ARB alloy aged at 375°C. The aged P-90CR alloy exhibits almost the same elongation of 6% up to failure and the same electrical conductivity of · = 45% IACS as the aged P-ARB alloy. The higher proof stress of the aged P-90CR alloy than the aged P-ARB alloy is ascribed to the higher dislocation density in the aged P-90CR alloy. The value of · u = 900 MPa for the aged P-90CR alloy is larger than that of · u μ 830 MPa for conventional commercial Cu3.0 mass%Ni0.65 mass%Si system alloys. The value of · for the former alloy is nearly identical to · μ 46% IACS for the latter alloys.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.