Effect of high-density electric current pulses on precipitation and mechanical properties of a Cu–Zn alloy

ABSTRACT

By applying high-density electric current pulses (ECP) on the Cu–Zn alloy, the high-temperature precipitated phase is explored and the related mechanical properties are investigated. Results show that the nucleation rate of the high-temperature β precipitation can be greatly accelerated due to the ECP treatment. Especially, an obvious orientation relationship can be detected between the matrix α phase and the product β precipitation by increasing the electric current density. In addition, for the samples with a dense distribution of refined β precipitation, a slight decrease in the tensile strength and a great increase in the elongation-to-failure can be observed.

This paper is part of a themed issue on Materials in External Fields.

KEYWORDS:

• Electric current pulse
• precipitation
• microstructure
• mechanical properties

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Professor J. D. Guo of Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, for many helpful discussions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the 111 Project of China (Grant No. B07015), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Grant No. 51471047, the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities No. N130418001.