The effect of complex strain path on the properties of CuSi5 silicon bronze

The effects of different complex strain paths on behaviour of silicon bronze CuSi5 have been investigated. The strain paths contain various sequences of cyclic torsion and tension. The amplitude was changed in the range of 0.05–0.5, temperature from 20 to 800 °C and strain rate from 0.01 to 1 s−1. The properties and structure obtained in complex strain paths are compared with that gained in monotonic torsion and tension. The silicon bronze containing about 5% Si is a very curious alloy, because the stacking fault energy is very low, so the large deformation is obtained mainly by twinning. The strain paths similar to those applied in the used experiments are observed in such industrial processes like: rolling, forging, rotary swaging and other processes. It has been found that by proper chosen of strain paths and deformation conditions the decrease of flow stress and increase of limit strain can be obtained.