Effects of room-temperature deformation on mechanical properties, microstructure and texture of continuous columnar-grained BFe10-1-1 cupronickel alloy tubes

The effects of room-temperature deformation on mechanical properties, the microstructure and texture evolution of continuous columnar-grained BFe10-1-1 cupronickel alloy tubes during room-temperature rolling and drawing were investigated. The results showed that continuous columnar grains were gradually thinned down into fiber microstructure, and the degree of working-hardening of the BFe10-1-1 alloy was increased continually with the increase of room-temperature reduction during rolling and drawing. After the rolling deformation degree of 82.8%, the ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of the BFe10-1-1 cupronickel alloy tubes increased to 418.7 MPa from 212.0 MPa of the as-cast state, and the elongation (El) of 8.5% was still obtained. The as-rolled BFe10-1-1 cupronickel alloy tubes were further drawn to the deformation degree of 99.0%, and the ultimate tensile strength (UTS) increased to 603.7 MPa and the elongation (El) reduced to 2.2%. The excellent room-temperature extensibility of the continuous columnar-grained BFe10-1-1 cupronickel alloy tubes is significantly beneficial from the relative high volume fraction of the <100> texture as well as low angle boundary.