Microstructure and mechanical properties of ultra fine grained Cu–Zn and Cu–Al alloys produced by cryorolling and annealing

In the present paper, we present the microstructure and mechanical properties of cryorolled and annealed Cu–5 wt.% Zn and Cu–5 wt.% Al alloys. Ultrafine grained microstructures with very fine annealing twins are obtained after cryrolling and annealing at 250 °C for 15 min. The study of Youngʹs modulus (E) variation with temperature revealed that E is lower (about ∼15%) in the as-rolled condition and it increases to the isotropic value after recrystallisation. This variation is attributed to the crystallographic texture that develops during rolling and recrystallisation. The Cu–Al alloy exhibited much higher strength (600 MPa) with similar strain to fracture (0.26) in comparison to Cu–Zn alloy (355 MPa). The higher strength of Cu–Al alloy is explained in terms of the higher contribution to solid solution strengthening of Al.