Unusual Young׳s modulus behavior in ultrafine-grained and microcrystalline copper wires caused by texture changes during processing and annealing

Effect of annealing on the dynamic Young׳s modulus E of ultrafine-grained (UFG) and microcrystalline (MC) copper obtained by combined severe plastic deformation (SPD) including repeated hydrostatic extrusion and drawing (UFG copper) or only repeated drawing (MC copper) is investigated. It is established that the Young׳s modulus in the SPD-prepared UFG and MC samples exceeds that in the coarse-grained fully annealed (CGFA) samples by 10% to 20%. Subsequent isothermal annealing at elevated temperatures between 90 and 470 °С leads to a sharp decrease of the Young׳s modulus for annealing temperatures above 210 °С. After annealing at 410 °С, the value of E reaches its minimal value that is 35% lower than E in CGFA samples (total change in E is about 50% of the initial value). Further annealing at higher temperatures leads to some increase in the Young׳s modulus. It is shown that the unusual behavior of the Young׳s modulus is caused by the formation of the 〈111〉 axial drawing texture in the SPD-treated samples which is replaced by the 〈001〉 annealing texture during the post-SPD heat treatments.