Morphological Evolution of Eutectic and Electrical Conductivity in a Hypoeutectic Cu–2.7at.％Zr Alloy Deformed by Unidirectional– and Cross–Rolling

Abstract

Morphology of eutectic in a hypoeutectic Cu–Zr alloy can be changed to various structures dependent on plastic deformation methods. This study reports morphological evolution of eutectic caused by unidirectional– and cross–rolling in a hypoeutectic Cu–2.7at.％Zr alloy. A graph–based method was applied to analyze the SEM images to characterize the morphological evolution of eutectics in terms of orientation, length, thickness, and connected structure of eutectics. Before rolling processes, an as–cast Cu–2.7at.％Zr alloy possessed a net–like morphology of eutectic with random orientations. The morphology of eutectic changed to the elongated and oriented one along the rolling direction by the unidirectional–rolling, and one along the two rolling directions by the cross–rolling. Variations of electrical conductivity by the unidirectional– and cross–rolling were also discussed based on the morphological evolution of eutectic.