Effect of annealing on wear resistance and electroconductivity of copper processed by high-pressure torsion

• Published in: Journal of materials science Vol. 49; no. 5; pp. 2270 - 2278
• Main Authors: Zhilyaev, Alexander P., Shakhova, I., Belyakov, A., Kaibyshev, R., Langdon, Terence G.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston Springer US 01.03.2014; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Annealing; ANNEALING PROCESSES; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry and Materials Science; Classical Mechanics; Copper; Crystallography and Scattering Methods; Electric properties; Electrical conductivity; Electrical resistivity; Materials Science; Microhardness; Polymer Sciences; Solid Mechanics; Torsion; Ultrafines; Wear rate; Wear resistance; Taylor Factor; Misorientation Distribution; Wear Test; Wear Rate; Orientation Imaging Microscopy
• ISSN: 0022-2461; 1573-4803
• DOI: 10.1007/s10853-013-7923-3

The influences of annealing temperature on the wear properties and electrical conductivity of Cu were studied after processing by high-pressure torsion (HPT). The annealing of Cu specimens processed by HPT leads to an increase in electroconductivity and a decrease in the wear rate. It is apparent that a nanotribolayer at the surface induced during wear sliding plays a more significant role than the ultrafine-grained structure. A slight increase was observed in the microhardness of HPT copper specimens upon annealing at a relatively low temperature (100 °C), and this is most likely due to a change in texture. The annealing leads to an increase in the Taylor factor by ~5 %, which is in good agreement with the increase in the microhardness level which is also by ~5 %. It is apparent that low-temperature annealing of HPT copper may produce optimal properties of the specimens including high strength and electroconductivity with a lower wear rate.