Effect of Aging on Properties and Nanoscale Precipitates of Cu-Ag-Cr Alloy

In this paper, the Cu-0.52Ag-0.22Cr alloy was prepared by hot horizontal continuous casting. The effects of aging process on micro-hardness, electrical conductivity, and nanoscale precipitates of Cu-0.52Ag-0.22Cr alloy were studied. The electrical conductivity and micro-hardness increase significantly in the early aging time. With the extension of aging time, the electrical conductivity is basically unchanged and remains at a high level. While, the micro-hardness increases slowly, the change trend is different at 623 K, 723 K, and 773 K. The optimisation of process parameters occurs in 723 K for 2 h. At this time, the electric conductivity is 95.8% IACS and the hardness is 104.1 HV0.1. The XRD result shows that the Ag and Cr are precipitated in elemental form copper matrix. Further TEM shows that, Cr exists at the sub-boundary in the form of larger nanoscale precipitates (100-200 nm). While a large number of Ag nanoscale precipitates (8-10 nm) is dispersed on the copper matrix. The synergistic effect of Ag and Cr nanoscale precipitates significantly improved the properties of the alloy.