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Properties and microstructure of copper–titanium alloys with magnesium additions

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Abstract

The volume fractions and morphology of precipitates in precipitation-strengthened Cu-Ti alloys, which precipitate mainly as continuous and discontinuous precipitates, are important for the application of the alloy. This study employed hardness and electrical conductivity tests, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), atom probe tomography (APT), and first-principles calculations to demonstrate that the addition of Mg is effective for accelerating nanosized continuous β′-Cu4Ti precipitation as well as for suppressing the precipitation of coarse lamellar discontinuous β-Cu4Ti precipitates along the grain boundaries, resulting in Cu-Ti alloys with high yield strength and good electrical conductivity. The results showed that the continuous precipitation of β′-Cu4Ti was accelerated by the Mg additions, which reduced the supersaturation of the matrix, thereby reducing the chemical driving force for the discontinuous precipitates. On the other hand, Mg additions increased the mismatch between the discontinuous β-Cu4Ti precipitates and matrix, decreased the nucleation rate of the discontinuous precipitates, and increased the spacing of the discontinuous precipitation layer, resulting in a lower growth rate of the discontinuous precipitates. Therefore, the addition of Mg to Cu-Ti alloys enhances the strength and improves the resistance to over-ageing.

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摘要

析出强化型Cu-Ti合金中析出相的体积分数和形貌对合金的性能影响巨大, 其主要强化相为连续析出相(CP)和不连续析出相(DP)。本研究通过透射电子显微镜、原子探针断层扫描和第一性原理计算证明添加Mg元素能够加速纳米尺寸连续析出相β′-Cu4Ti相的析出以及抑制片层状不连续析出相β-Cu4Ti相的形核与长大, 从而制备得到了具有高屈服强度和良好导电性的Cu-Ti合金。一方面, Mg元素的添加加速了连续相β′-Cu4Ti相的析出, 降低了基体的过饱和度, 从而降低了不连续相沉淀的化学驱动力。另一方面, Mg元素的添加增大了β-Cu4Ti相与基体的错配度, 降低了不连续相的形核速率, 同时使不连续相的片层间距增大, 导致不连续相的生长速率也降低。因此, 向Cu-Ti合金中添加Mg元素提高了合金的强度并改善了其抵抗过时效的性能。

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the Technological Innovation 2025 & Major Special Project of Ningbo (Nos. 2021Z084 and 2020Z039).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Nonferrous Metals and Processes, GRINM Group Co., Ltd., Beijing, 100088, China

    Lue Huang, Li-Jun Peng, Xu-Jun Mi, Hao-Feng Xie, Yi-Cheng Cao, Wen-Jing Zhang & Zhen Yang

  2. GRIMAT Engineering Institute Co., Ltd., Beijing, 101407, China

    Lue Huang, Li-Jun Peng, Xu-Jun Mi, Hao-Feng Xie, Yi-Cheng Cao, Wen-Jing Zhang & Zhen Yang

  3. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Northeastern University, Shenyang, 110000, China

    Lue Huang & Gang Zhao

  4. General Research Institute for Nonferrous Metals, Beijing, 100088, China

    Lue Huang

  5. China Academy of Space Technology, Beijing, 100094, China

    Jiang Li

  6. China Nonferrous Metals Mining Group (Tianjin) Co. Ltd, Tianjin, 300111, China

    Guo-Jie Huang

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  1. Lue Huang
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Huang, L., Peng, LJ., Li, J. et al. Properties and microstructure of copper–titanium alloys with magnesium additions. Rare Met. 43, 2290–2299 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12598-023-02544-1

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