Study on microstructure and mechanical property evolution in Cu-9Ni-6Sn-0.2Nb alloy by low temperature deformation

The microstructure and mechanical property evolution, after low temperature deformation, in Cu-9Ni-6Sn-0.2Nb alloy has been investigated in this research. As the room-temperature engineering stress-strain curves shown, low temperature deformation can obviously improve the mechanical property of the alloys. When cold rolled at −196 °C, both yield strength and ultimate tensile strength of the specimen are obviously improved ∼11.58% and ∼9.94%, respectively, the distortion domain and the appearance of deformation twins both strengthen the alloy. After aging treatment, with a higher volume fraction of DP colonies in the cryo-deformed Cu-9Ni-6Sn-0.2Nb alloy, the electrical conductivity in the alloy is thus higher than that in the cold-rolled alloy. The microstructure and electrical-mechanical property results can offer helpful reference for Cu-Ni-Sn alloy manufacturing.