Influence of Fe content on microstructure and performance of powder metallurgy Cu-Fe alloys
(1. State Key Laboratory of Powder Metallurgy, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China;
2. Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8577, Japan;
3. IMDEA Materials Institute, C/Eric Kandel 2, Getafe, Madrid 28906, Spain;
4. Department of Materials Science, Polytechnic University of Madrid/Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, E.T.S. de Ingenieros de Caminos, Madrid 28040, Spain)
2. Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8577, Japan;
3. IMDEA Materials Institute, C/Eric Kandel 2, Getafe, Madrid 28906, Spain;
4. Department of Materials Science, Polytechnic University of Madrid/Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, E.T.S. de Ingenieros de Caminos, Madrid 28040, Spain)
Abstract: The influence of various Fe contents (5, 10, 20, and 40 wt.%) on the microstructure and properties of powder metallurgy Cu-Fe alloy by spark plasma sintering, subjected to cold rolling and aging treatments, was explored. The results showed that, with increasing Fe content from 5 wt.% to 40 wt.%, the distribution of Fe phase evolved from the discrete spheroid to the continuous stagger, accompanying with its size increasing from 0.29 to 1.20 μm. Accordingly, the yield strength of the aged alloy increased from 411.5 to 788.8 MPa, whilst the electrical conductivity decreased from 62.5% (IACS) to 42.0% (IACS). Moreover, a rule of mixture was proposed to calculate the contribution of Cu matrix, primary Fe phase and secondary Fe phase to the yield strength of the alloy, which works well in the prediction of mechanical properties for Cu-Fe alloys with Fe content higher than10 wt.%.
Key words: Cu-Fe alloy; powder metallurgy; rapid solidification; mechanical properties; strength calculation