Microstructure and properties of Cu–11Fe–6Ag in situ composite after thermo-mechanical treatments

Thermal Stability and Properties of Deformation-Processed Cu-Fe In Situ Composites

“…This finding is in agreement with previous research. [10,29] Figure 5 presents Z value curve of the Cu-14Fe in situ composites with g = 7 heat treated at 798 K (525°C) for different times ranging from 1 to 8 h. As mentioned above, the conductivity of the Cu-14Fe in situ composite increases, while the tensile strength decreases with increasing time of heat treatment. Any of the two properties cannot represent the service performance of the in situ composite.…”

“…Based on lots of running tests of electric railway contact wires, a parameter Z evaluated that the combination property of Cu-based in situ composites is proposed in Japan. The parameter can be expressed as follows [29,31] :…”

“…[24][25][26][27][28] Raabe and Ge [19] investigated the effect of annealing temperature and time on the microstructure of Cu-10Cr-3Ag in situ composite, and found that the fibers underwent a capillarity-driven shape change from bamboo morphology with grain boundary grooves to complete spheroidization during annealing. Stepped annealing process for Cu-11Fe-6Ag and Cu-12Fe in situ composites was investigated by Gao et al [29] They found that proper stepped annealing at a certain draw ratio produced better combination of strength and conductivity. The work of Xie et al [5] indicated that the prior homogenization heat treatment resulted in the refinement of the primary Fe dendrites in the Cu matrix and promoted the precipitation of the secondary Fe particles from the Cu matrix, which led to an increase in the strength and conductivity of the in situ composites.…”

Microstructure and properties of Cu–Fe microcomposites with prior homogenizing treatments

“…However, it is usually difficult to achieve the excellent combination of the strength and conductivity for Cu-Fe microcomposites because the relatively high solubility of iron in copper lattice at high temperature and the relatively low rate of iron precipitation at low temperature result in strong solute scattering [9]. Optimizing heat treatments can significantly influence the mechanical and electrical properties of Cu-Fe microcomposite [10][11][12][13]. Verhoeven et al [10] improved the conductivity of Cu-(10-30) wt.% Fe microcomposites by the sufficient precipitation of Fe particles in a series of intermediate heat treatments with slow cooling rates.…”

“…Verhoeven et al [10] improved the conductivity of Cu-(10-30) wt.% Fe microcomposites by the sufficient precipitation of Fe particles in a series of intermediate heat treatments with slow cooling rates. Hong and co-workers [12] and Gao et al [13] made better combination of the strength and conductivity for Cu-9 wt.% Fe-1.2 wt.% Cr and Cu-11 wt.% Fe-6 wt.% Ag microcomposites by introducing three stages of intermediate heat treatments during drawing deformation. Wu et al [11] increased the conductivity of Cu-12 wt.% Fe microcomposites at a high draw ratio by annealing the drawn wires.…”