Effects of deformation on microstructures and properties of submicron crystalline Cu-5%Cr alloy

Warm extrusion of submicron crystalline Cu-5%Cr from 100 °C to 600 °C was investigated. The effects of different extrusion ratios and different extrusion temperatures on microstructures and properties of submicron crystalline Cu-5%Cr were studied. The microstructures of the extruded Cu-5%Cr were characterized by backscattered electron images(BSE) and transmission electron microscopy(TEM). The mechanical properties of the extruded Cu-5%Cr were measured by means of microhardness and tension test. The results show that, the deformation, dynamic recovery and dynamic recrystallization of the extruded Cu-5%Cr are mainly produced in Cu matrix. The higher extrusion ratio leads to more uniform microstructure and finer Cu grains. When being extruded in the range of 100–600 °C, dynamic recovery of Cu is the dominant process, and dynamic recrystallization of Cu occurred above 300 °C is far from end. The most part of microstructure of as-extruded Cu-5%Cr is subcrystallines produced by dynamic recovery, only a few recrystallines exist, and the average size of these grains is not larger than 400 nm. With extrusion temperature rising, the tensile strength and microhardness of Cu-5%Cr decrease, and elongation increases gradually.