A study of changes taking place in Cu–Cr–Zr alloy during severe plastic deformation and annealing as evaluated by thermoelectric power measurements

A CuCrZr alloy has been processed by equal channel angular pressing and annealing. Changes of microstructure have been analysed using thermoelectric power measurements, which are very sensitive to the amount of solute as well as other defects introduced during processing. Severe plastic deformation of solutionized material leads to significant increases in the amount of solute, which leads to significantly more precipitation on ageing. Such factors must be taken into account in any interpretation of final microstructures and mechanical properties.