Microstructure and properties of Cu-50Fe alloy produced by chemical co-precipitation and powder metallurgy

Traditional casting preparation of Cu-Fe alloy is difficult, especially when Fe content is relatively high, because there is a metastable immiscible region of liquid components between copper (Cu) and iron (Fe), which causes serious compositional segregation in Cu-Fe alloys and leads to low strength and undesirable electrical conductivity of the alloys. In this study, Cu-50Fe alloy was fabricated by chemical co-precipitation and powder metallurgy. Cu-Fe mixed powders prepared by chemical co-precipitation have an average particle size of about 3.5 µm and a near-spherical shape. Copper and iron phases in the fabricated alloy intertwine with each other. After cold deformation, copper and iron phases are elongated along the cold deformation direction to form strips. During aging treatment, a number of Fe particles with diameter of 10–50 nm precipitate in Cu phases in the alloy. The tensile strength and electrical conductivity of the deformed and aged Cu-50Fe alloy are 651 MPa and 41.5%IACS, respectively.