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Effects of stacking fault energy on the thermal stability and mechanical properties of nanostructured Cu-Al alloys during thermal annealing

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Abstract

Effects of stacking fault energy (SFE) on the thermal stability and mechanical properties of nanostructured (NS) Cu-Al alloys during thermal annealing were investigated in this study. Compared with NS Cu-5at.%Al alloy with the higher SFE, NS Cu-8at.%Al alloy exhibits the lower critical temperatures for the initiation of recrystallization and the transition from recovery-dominated to recrystallization-dominated process, which significantly signals its low thermal stability. This may be attributed to the large microstructural heterogeneities resulting from severe plastic deformation. With increasing the annealing temperatures, both Cu-Al alloys present the similar trend of decreased strength and improved ductility. Meanwhile, the remarkable enhancement of uniform elongation is achieved when the volume fraction of Static recrystallization (SRX) grains exceeds -80%. Moreover, the better strength-ductility combination was achieved in the Cu-8at.%Al alloy with lower SFE.

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  1. Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science, Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, 110016, China

    X. H. An, S. Qu, S. D. Wu & Z. F. Zhang

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  1. X. H. An
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  2. S. Qu
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  3. S. D. Wu
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An, X.H., Qu, S., Wu, S.D. et al. Effects of stacking fault energy on the thermal stability and mechanical properties of nanostructured Cu-Al alloys during thermal annealing. Journal of Materials Research 26, 407–415 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2010.39

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