Annealing behavior of Cu-7at.%Pd alloy deformed by cold rolling

The anneal hardening behavior of Cu-7at.%Pd alloy after deformation by cold rolling was investigated by means of hardness, microhardness, electrical conductivity, light optical microscopy (LOM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). In this regard, the cast Cu-7at.%Pd alloy after quenching was deformed with 20% and 40% reductions and isochronally annealed between 100 °C and 700 °C. After annealing up to 400 °C, the deformed samples exhibited atypical anneal hardening behavior in combination with an increase in electrical conductivity. In addition, the recrystallization was substantially retarded by the applied thermo-mechanical treatment which included solution annealing, quenching, cold rolling, and annealing. The microstructural evolution during a low-temperature annealing proved a strong pinning of grain boundaries by solute palladium atoms, indicating that grain boundaries have an important role during the anneal hardening. •Atypical hardening was appeared in cold deformed Cu-7at.%Pd alloy after low-temperature annealing.•Significant microstructural changes occurred during the thermo-mechanical treatment.•Strong segregation of palladium atoms along the grain boundaries during the annealing has been confirmed.