Emmanuel Aboagye

ME-301 Response Paper

December 2nd, 2017.

Annealing Behavior of Copper

Introduction

Hot-extruded copper rods were subjected to torsion and annealing. Experiments were conducted
to investigate the mechanical properties (microhardness and tensile properties) of the various
samples. The results from these experiments shows that the combination of torsion and annealing
of copper rod can enhance its mechanical properties thereby increasing its efficiency for
industrial use.

Copper metal has proven itself to be one of the most valuable metals known to man. It is
one of the most used materials in many applications ranging from public health and medicine to
the industries. Copper is a soft metal, it is malleable and ductile and has a very high thermal and
electrical conductivity. Copper has also produced some of the most highly corrosive resistance
alloys such as bronze and brass. These alloys are used to make ornaments, instruments,
hardware’s and a whole lot of things used in our daily activities.

Due to its functional, structural and mechanical properties, its strengthening and
toughening are essential motives for researchers. The mechanical and microstructural properties
of deformed copper can be enhanced in many ways. For instance, plastic deformation, which
tends to multiply the crystalline defect of materials thereby strengthening the material. Also, the
introduction of gradient nanotwins is a very effective technique in producing high strength and
ductile materials. The most excellent approach to design the microstructure and mechanical
properties of cold deformed copper is by annealing.

Annealing can simply be defined as the heating of a metal and allowing it to cool to
remove internal stresses and toughen the metal. Cold deformed copper does not have gradient
structures, which usually strengthens and toughens the metal. When cold deformed copper is
annealed, there is a formation of new grains equal in all dimensions and the recrystallization and
the repositioning of dislocations. This enhances the ductility and toughness of copper
significantly. A large volume fraction of gradient structures is introduced by the combination of
pre-torsion and subsequent annealing. The gradient lamellar dislocation substructures (LDS)
were introduced and the mechanical properties was examined.

Experiment

A hot-extruded copper rod with 99.5% purity was used in this experiment. The as-received
copper showed a fully recrystallized grain structure with equiaxed grains and annealing twins.
The copper rod was subjected to torsion deformation with shear strain gradients. It was then cut
into dog-bone specimens. The torsion deformation was performed at ambient temperature and a
constant rate of 2rpm which resulted in a strain rate of 0.009/sec at the sample surface. Four
specimens were twisted 1,5,11 and 16 revolutions respectively (indicated as PT-1, PT-5, PT-11
and PT-16 respectively). After the torsion deformation was performed, an annealing treatment at
120 ⁰C, 160 ⁰C, and 200 ⁰C within 30min respectively was carried out on the PT samples. These
samples were denoted as PT-XX-YY⁰C (e.g. PT-5 annealed at 120 ⁰C was indicated as PT-5-120
⁰C sample).

The microhardness of the samples was determined on the longitudinal sections using a
Vickers indentation tester (HVS-1000). The mechanical properties of the samples were evaluated
by performing a tensile test using an ambient temperature and at a strain rate of 0.001/sec. The
tensile properties of each sample were produced by more than three tension experiments. A field
emission gun scanning electron microscope was used to examine the microstructures of the
samples. Three regions including the core, middle and surface in the longitudinal section of the
samples were analyzed for the effect of strain gradient of torsion on microstructure.

Results and Discussion

Mechanical properties (Microhardness)

The microhardness of the various samples was determined to be dependent on temperature

changes. Figure 1a shows the microhardness of the sample PT-16 annealed at different
temperatures up to 200 ⁰C. It was noticed that the microhardness of PT-16 sample shows a
gradient distribution which increases slowly from the core to the surface. The gradient
distribution was hardly noticed at 120 ⁰C. A decrease in the microhardness of the samples from
PT-16-160 ⁰C to PT-16-200 ⁰C was later observed. After the annealing treatment, the
microhardness of the PT-16-160 ⁰C and PT-16-200 ⁰C samples was nearly the same at the core
but there was an incredible reduction at the surface layer. Figure 1b shows samples annealed at
the same temperature (200 ⁰C) with different pre-torsion strain. It can be observed that the
annealed gradient distribution is only observed in the PT-11-200 ⁰C and PT-16-200 ⁰C samples.
The increase in the hard shell and soft core from the surface is displayed in figure 2a. After
annealing treatment, there is an abrupt decrease in hardness from the core to the surface and that
it shown by figure2. It can now be deduced that the microhardness of the copper decreased as the
annealing temperature increased. This is due to the movement of atoms in the crystal lattice and
the lamellar dislocation substructures. Also, as the number of twist (torsion) on the copper rod
increase, the LDS density increases and the spacing size shrinks. This improves the ductility of
the copper.

Figure 1. Microhardness plotted as functions of distance to the core: (a)Represents PT-16

samples annealed at different temperatures; (b) Represents samples annealed at 200 °C with
different pre-torsion strains.
This data collection and graphs were done by Guo, N., Li, D., Yu, H., Xin, R., Zhang, Z., Li,
X., . . . Chai, L. (2017).

Figure 2. The as-deformed sample with a hard shell and a soft core (a) and the as-annealed
sample with a soft shell and a relative hard core (b).

This data collection and graphs were done by Guo, N., Li, D., Yu, H., Xin, R., Zhang, Z., Li,
X., . . . Chai, L. (2017).

Mechanical properties (Tensile Properties)

The tensile true stress and tensile true strain of the samples were measured and plotted as shown
in figure 3. It can be noticed from figure 3a that at the same sample PT-16 and different
temperatures, the peak strength and elongation of the sample increases as the annealing
temperature increased to 200 ⁰C. When this same experiment was conducted for samples with
different pre-strained levels but the same temperature, it was found that the pre-torsion strain has
no significant effect on the tensile properties of the annealed samples from figure 3b.

Figure 3 Tensile true stress-strain curves of various samples: (a) Effect of annealing temperature
on tensile properties; (b) Effect of pre-torsion strain on the properties

This data collection and graphs were done by Guo, N., Li, D., Yu, H., Xin, R., Zhang, Z., Li,
X., . . . Chai, L. (2017).

Why the annealing behavior of copper is of contemporary interest?

The use of materials and the technological world has changed tremendously over this few
decades. People have come to depend mainly of electrical devices for their daily activities. It
seems to me that we may not be able to function without electricity and electrical devices. This
makes copper a very important material due to its high ability to conduct electricity. The
improvements and enhancements of its mechanical properties through annealing is very vital as
it makes copper a more workable material by reducing its microhardness and brittleness.

Why the annealing behavior of copper is of interest to industry

Copper has many applications in the industrial field such as building construction, making
electric and electronic parts, machinery and equipment’s and consumer products like jewelry. All
these applications can be achieved by enhancing the mechanical and structural properties of
copper. The annealing of copper reduces its micro hardness, increases its ductility, strength and
malleability. This makes it more workable like drawing copper into wire, or coiling a copper
around an electric motor.
Conclusion

The results from the experiment shows that both pre-torsion strain and annealing temperatures
has an impact on the mechanical properties of copper rod. The performance of copper can be
enhanced by torsion and subsequent annealing. The annealing of copper makes it soft and ductile
and that makes it easy to be operated on. Design and manufacturing engineers find this
application very useful as it allows them to predict the performance of copper when a load is
acting on it.

Reference

Guo, N., Li, D., Yu, H., Xin, R., Zhang, Z., Li, X., . . . Chai, L. (2017). Annealing behavior of
gradient structured copper and its effect on mechanical properties. Materials Science and
Engineering: A, 702, 331-342. doi:10. 1016/j.msea.2017.07.023

Guo, N., Li, X., Xiao, M., Xin, R., Chai, L., Song, B., . . . Li, L. (2016). Microstructures and
Mechanical Properties of Commercial Hot-Extruded Copper Processed by Torsion
Deformation. Advanced Engineering Materials,18(10), 1738-1746.
doi:10.1002/adem.201600252