Influences of Fe Content and Cold Drawing Strain on the Microstructure and Properties of Powder Metallurgy Cu-Fe Alloy Wire

Xiaobo Yuan; Ping Zhang; Jianxiang Wang; Biaobiao Yang; Yunping Li

doi:10.3390/ma16145180

Influences of Fe Content and Cold Drawing Strain on the Microstructure and Properties of Powder Metallurgy Cu-Fe Alloy Wire

Materials (Basel). 2023 Jul 23;16(14):5180. doi: 10.3390/ma16145180.

Authors

Xiaobo Yuan¹, Ping Zhang¹, Jianxiang Wang¹, Biaobiao Yang^{1

2

3}, Yunping Li¹

Affiliations

¹ State Key Lab for Powder Metallurgy, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China.
² IMDEA Materials Institute, C/Eric Kandel 2, 28906 Getafe, Spain.
³ Department of Materials Science, Polytechnic University of Madrid, E.T.S. de Ingenieros de Caminos, 28040 Madrid, Spain.

Abstract

To study the effects of Fe content and cold drawing strain on the microstructure and properties, Cu-Fe alloys were prepared via powder metallurgy and hot extrusion. Scanning electron microscopy was applied to observe the Fe phase, and the ultimate tensile strength was investigated using a universal material testing machine. Alloying with an Fe content below 10 wt.% formed a spherically dispersed Fe phase via the conventional nucleation and growth mechanism, whereas a higher Fe content formed a water-droplet-like Fe phase via the spinodal decomposition mechanism in the as-extruded Cu-Fe alloy. Further cold drawing induced the fiber structure of the Fe phase (fiber strengthening), which could not be destroyed by subsequent annealing. As the Fe content increased, the strength increased but the electrical conductivity decreased; as the cold drawing strain increased, both the strength and the electrical conductivity roughly increased, but the elongation roughly decreased. After thermal-mechanical processing, the electrical conductivity and strength of the Cu-40Fe alloy could reach 51% IACS and 1.14 GPa, respectively. This study can provide insight into the design of high-performance Cu-Fe alloys by tailoring the size and morphology of the Fe phase.

Keywords: Cu-Fe wire; Fe phase; cold drawing; electrical conductivity; powder metallurgy; ultimate tensile strength.

Grants and funding

This investigation was supported by a grant from the Natural Science Foundation of China (51871244) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of Central South University (1053320190103).