Phase and Microstructure Analysis of Cu-Cr-Zr Alloys

Phases of Cu-(0.4%-2.0%) Cr-(0.05%-0.16%) Zr alloys were analyzed in both as cast and deformed state.Solute-rich clusters of Cr, which was supposed to form during aging treatment, were observed in as cast state;along with the morphology character, corresponding preferential orientation of Cr phase in as cast state was also investigated. Precipitates were observed to distribute in the matrix with a bimodal distribution, viz.coarse precipitates with dimension larger than several hundred nanometers and fine precipitates with size of 2-10 nm. Three types of intermetallics, the common compound of Cu51Zr14, correspondingly infrequent Cu5Zr and rare Cu8Zr3, were characterized in different samples.