Fatigue Behavior of Age-Hardening Cu-6Ni-1.5Si Alloys with Different Grain Sizes

On the thermomechanical treatments of Cu-Ni-Si alloy, cold-rolling (CR) before solution heat treatment (SHT) is commonly conducted to eliminate defects in a casting slab. In addition, a rolling is applied to reduce/adjust the thickness of casting slab before SHT. In a heavily deformed microstructure by CR, on the other hand, grain growth during a heating in SHT is likely to occur as the result of recrystallization. In general, tensile strength and fatigue strength tend to decrease with an increase in the grain size. However, the effect of difference in grain sizes produced by with and without CR before SHT on the fatigue strength is unclear. In the present study, fatigue tests of Cu-6Ni-Si alloy smooth specimens with a grain fabricated through different thermomechanical processes were conducted. The fatigue behavior of Cu-Ni-Si alloy was discussed.