Microstructure Mechanisms Governing the Creep Life of Ultrafine-Grained Cu-0.2 wt%Zr Alloy

Equal-channel angular pressing was conducted at room temperature and extrusion was performed up to 12 passes using route where the billets were rotated by 90° in the same sense between consecutive passes. Tensile creep tests were performed at 473, 573 and 673 K at different constant applied stresses. It was observed that the original coarse grain size of unprocessed alloy was reduced to 0.3 μm after 8 equal-channel angular pressing passes and the grain growth during creep was restricted by precipitates with the mean diameter ≈ 4.0 nm. No significant effect on creep resistance was found after one equal-channel angular pressing pass at 473 and 573 K. However, the longest time to fracture was exhibited by alloy after 2 equal-channel angular pressing passes at 573 and 673 K but with further increasing number of equal-channel angular pressing passes a decrease in the time to fracture was observed. Nevertheless, the beneficial effect of equal-channel angular pressing on creep resistance was still documented after 8 passes for temperatures of 473 and 573 K. By contrast, creep tests performed at 673 K showed that the time to fracture of ultrafine-grained material is shorter as compared with that for as-received state. The 3D laser measurement of surface showed that the creep fracture process is accelerated by formation of vertical surface step relief and cavitation at the intersection of the shear bands during creep.