High Pressure Torsion of Copper; Effect of Processing Temperature on Structural Features, Microhardness and Electric Conductivity

Abstract

By optimizing the fabrication method, copper components featuring (typically contradicting) advantageous electric conductivity and favorable mechanical properties can be acquired. In this study, we subjected conventional electroconductive copper to a single revolution of high pressure torsion (HPT) at room temperature (RT), searched for the conditions which would yield comparable structure characteristics (grain size) when deformed at a cryogenic temperature, and finally compared the mechanical and electric behaviors to assess specific differences and correlate them with the (sub)structural development. 180° revolution of cryo-HPT imparted structure refinement comparable to 360° revolution of room temperature HPT, i.e., the average grain size at the periphery of both the specimens was ~7 µm. The 360° RT HPT specimen exhibited preferential (111)||SD (shear direction) texture fiber in all the examined regions, whereas the 180° cryo-HPT specimen exhibited more or less randomly oriented grains of equiaxed shapes featuring substantial substructure development of a relatively homogeneous character and massive occurrence of (nano)twins. These structural features resulted in the increase in microhardness to the average value of 118.2 HV0.2 and the increase in the electric conductivity to 59.66 MS·m−1 (compared to 105 HV0.2 and 59.14 MS·m−1 acquired for the 360° RT HPT specimen). The deformation under the cryogenic conditions also imparted higher homogeneity of microhardness distribution when compared to RT processing.

Grain Refinement and Strengthening of an Aluminum Alloy Subjected to Severe Plastic Deformation through Equal-Channel Angular Pressing

“…In order to refine grains with moderate-to-high strain, numerous severe plastic deformation (SPD) processes have been utilized, including torsion under high pressure [1][2][3], ball milling [4,5], and equal-channel angular pressing (ECAP) [6][7][8][9]. During ECAP, the bulk of the sample undergoes approximately simple shear, and repetitive passes of the same sample can be achieved, since the sample cross-section remains unaltered after each pass.…”