Evolution of microstructure and mechanical properties in Cu-14%Fe alloy during severe cold rolling

Abstract

Cu-14% Fe alloy was produced by vacuum arc remelting and casting in water-cooled mold with subsequent hot extrusion. It had fine grained microstructure with supersaturated solid solutions based on Cu and Fe phases. The alloy was subjected to cold sheet rolling with true strains up to 6.6. Microstructure was studied by SEM and TEM, specific attention was paid to chemical composition of individual phases - copper matrix and iron particles. Good correlation between mechanical strength and spacing between iron particles in accordance with Hall-Petch relationship was found