Heat Treatment of Metals ›› 2021, Vol. 46 ›› Issue (7): 7-12.DOI: 10.13251/j.issn.0254-6051.2021.07.002

• MICROSTRUCTURE AND PROPERTIES • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Evolution of precipitated phases in high strength and high electrical conductivity Cu-Cr-Zr alloy during aging

Pan Xuexin1, Jiang Haichang1, Feng Hui1,2, Li Xuebin3, Lu Yanren3, Hu Xiaofeng1, Fu Hong1   

  1. 1. CAS Key Laboratory of Nuclear Materials and Safety Assessment, Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang Liaoning 110016, China;
    2. CNPC Tubular Goods Research Institute, Xi’an Shannxi 710077, China;
    3. China Railway Construction Electrification Bureau Group Kang Yuan New Material Co., Ltd., Jiangyin Jiangsu 214521, China
  • Received:2021-02-20 Online:2021-07-25 Published:2021-12-10

Abstract: Precipitated phases in a CuCrZr alloy after aging at different temperatures were observed, and the electrical conductivity of the alloy was tested. The results show that after aging at 450 ℃ for 30 min, pure Cr precipitates with diameter of less than 5 nm are produced and obey the cube-on-cube orientation relationship with the matrix. After peek aging at 450 ℃ for 120 min, the precipitates are indexed as CrCu2Zr and Cr, which are coherent with the matrix and in a size of about 10 nm. After over aging at 600 ℃ and 800 ℃ respectively for 30 min, the precipitates change into rod-like Cu4Zr and spherical Cr phases. When aging at 600 ℃, some of the rod-like precipitates have grown to about 50 μm. When aging at 800 ℃, almost no fine precipitates are found, while the rod-shaped Cu4Zr precipitates grow to more than 200 μm, and the spherical pure Cr precipitates to near 50 μm. The electrical conductivity of the CuCrZr alloy increases with the extension of the aging time during aging at 450 ℃ and reaches the maximum value at 120 min and then hardly changes. Based on the linear relationship between the conversion rate of precipitated phases and the electrical conductivity during aging process, the precipitation kinetics equations of the CuCrZr alloy aging at 400, 450, 500 and 600 ℃ are established.

Key words: CuCrZr alloy, precipitates, evolution of microstructure, electrical conductivity, kinetics equation

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