Aging treatment of Cu-Fe supersaturated solid solution prepared by mechanical alloying

The effect of aging treatment on hardness and electrical conductivity of Cu-xFe(x=1, 2, 4, mass fraction/%) supersaturated solid solutions prepared by mechanical alloying was investigated. The X-ray results showed that the solubility of Fe in Cu increased due to the internal strain and microstructural refinement caused by ball milling. The solubility of Fe in Cu can be extended to 4% after 32h ball milling. Meanwhile, the copper grain size and lattice parameter decreased to 20nm and 0.3621nm respectively. The aging treatment can promote the decomposition of the supersaturated solid solution which decreased the hardness and improve the electrical conductivity. The microhardness of the cold press formed Cu-4Fe alloy powders decreased from 175 to 96, and the electrical conductivity increased from 35%IACS(International Annealed Copper Standard) to 60%IACS.