Effect of rotating magnetic field on the microstructure and properties of Cu-Ag-Zr alloy

A long time of homogenization treatment is needed to eliminate the microsegregation of solutes during the preparation of many copper alloys, resulting in a waste of time and energy. In the present study, we demonstrated that the application of rotating magnetic field (RMF) on a newly developed Cu-Ag-Zr alloy during solidification can efficiently reduce the microsegregation of Zr solute, which can be proven by the variation of the electrical conductivity and hardness with a prolonged time of solution treatment. For a short solute treatment time of 1 h and aging time of 4 h, the amount of Zr precipitate increases and becomes more refined due to the Zr microsegregation reduction under RMF, resulting in an obvious improvement of the tensile strength and Brinell hardness of Cu-0.1Ag-0.3Zr alloy. Furthermore, the coarse columnar grain turns into homogeneous equiaxed grain and the macrosegregation decreases under the effect of RMF.