Abstract
The deformation microstructure and texture evolution of single crystal copper after cryogenic equal channel angular pressing (Cryo-ECAP) process were characterized by optical microscope, scanning electron microscope, X-ray diffractometer, and electron backscatter diffraction. The mechanical properties and conductivity properties were analyzed. The microstructure transition mechanism and its effects on the mechanical properties and conductivity properties were discussed. Results show that the directional shear bands formed in the early stage of Cryo-ECAP process seriously affect the microstructure transformation during the subsequent deformation. With increasing the strain, a high-density dislocation pile-up is formed in the shear bands during deformation by route A, and the proportion of characteristic grain boundaries is increased. The dislocations in the shear bands during deformation by route BC present strong interactions, and the orientation of shear bands is dispersed after the deformation by route C. After 6 passes of deformation, the strong {111}<112> texture forms in the microstructure of single crystal copper, the strength increases from 126.0 MPa to 400.2 MPa, and the conductivity remains of above 98%IACS. After Cryo-ECAP, the directional shear bands form in the texture and the high-density dislocations are produced. The entanglement of dislocations effectively prevents the dislocation slip, and therefore the grains maintain the characteristics of single crystal.
Due to its excellent electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and ductility, single crystal copper attracts much attention in the electronics industry. However, the low strength severely restricts its application in the transportation, communication, and electronic information fields. Therefore, the methods to simultaneously maintain the high ductility and high conductivity and improve the strength of single crystal copper have been extensively researche
However, the dislocation movement can be significantly hindered at cryogenic temperature. Thus, the stress required for thermal activation becomes larger, which is beneficial to improve the mechanical properties of material
Single crystal rods of high-purity (99.999%) copper were prepared by Ohno continuous casting method. The rods were cut into the specimens with diameter of 16 mm and length of 65 mm by wire cutting. The specimens were cooled suffi-ciently in liquid nitrogen, and the die surface and channels were sprayed by liquid nitrogen. Then, the specimens were placed in the ECAP die for ECAP process by route A, route BC, and route C. The microstructures and morphologies of the extruded specimens were observed by optical microscope (OM) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The texture evolution was detected by X-ray diffractometer (XRD) and electron backscattered diffractometer (EBSD). The hardness of specimens after ECAP was tested by HV-1000 hardness tester. Five points were evenly selected from the central to the outer circumference of each specimen and the average hardness was used for analysis. Tensile tests were conducted by WDW-300 microcomputer-controlled electronic universal testing machine. The conductivity was measured by Sigma 2008B/C digital eddy current metal conductivity meter. Each specimen was measured 5 times and the average conductivity was used for analysis. The schematic diagram of ECAP die and extrusion specimen is shown in

Fig.1 Schematic diagram of ECAP die and extrusion specimen (ND: normal direction; TD: transverse direction; RD: rolling direction)

Fig.2 EBSD morphologies of single crystal copper after Cryo-ECAP deformation of 4 passes through route A (a), route BC (b), and route C (c)

Fig.3 Grain boundary distributions of single crystal copper after Cryo-ECAP deformation of 4 passes through route A (a), route BC (b), and route C (c)
XRD patterns of single crystal copper processed by Cryo-ECAP are shown in

Fig.4 XRD patterns of single crystal copper after Cryo-ECAP through route A (a), route BC (b), and route C (c)

Fig.5 Misorientation distributions of single crystal copper after Cryo-ECAP of 4 passes through route A (a), route BC (b), and route C (c)
dislocations occur in the single crystal copper deformed by route BC, and the shear bands are gradually dispersed in the single crystal copper deformed by route C. The shear mode of route A is more conducive to the formation of oriented shear bands in the single crystal microstructure and can promote the formation of nano-twins bundles within the single crystal copper.
The dislocation density can be calculated by the Kubin and Morernsen metho
(1) |
(2) |
where θave is average misorientation; b is the value of Burgers vector of 0.25

Fig.6 Pole figures of single crystal copper after Cryo-ECAP of 4 passes of through A (a), route BC (b), and route C (c)

Fig.7 Orientation distribution functions of single crystal copper after Cryo-ECAP of 4 passes through different routes: (a) route A, (b) route BC, and (c) route C

Fig.8 Schmid factor distributions of single crystal copper after Cryo-ECAP of 4 passes by different routes: (a) route A, (b) route BC, and (c) route C

Fig.9 Mechanical properties of single crystal copper deformed by different Cryo-ECAP processes: (a) tensile strength and elongation; (b) hardness
It can be found that after deformation of 4 passes, the elon-gation of single crystal copper is above 12% and the tensile strength is above 350 MPa. This is mainly due to the forma-tion of nanofiber microstructure inside the material during deformation, which effectively inhibits the movement of dislo-cation. After Cryo-ECAP of 4 passes, the accumulated strain inside the material increases and the dislocation can hardly be generated. Thus, higher stresses are required to initiate the new dislocation sources. For the pure single crystal, the yield strength τc can be calculated by Eq.(
(3) |
(4) |
(5) |
where τm denotes the stress required for dislocation motion; τs is the contribution of dislocation source strengthening; τf is the lattice friction stress; τdis is the dislocation source streng-thening stress; a is the lattice constant; μ is the shear modulus; ρdis is the dislocation density; d is the grain size; K and m are material parameters related to the stacking fault energy, temper- ature, dislocation source density, etc. Normally, τm depends on τf and τdis. The values of these parameters are shown in
Parameter | Value | Ref. |
---|---|---|
Lattice constant, a/nm | 0.3620 |
[ |
Shear modulus, μ/GPa | 46 |
[ |
Dislocation density, ρdis/ |
1.157×1 | This work |
8.498×1 | ||
1.104×1 | ||
Grain size, d/μm | 42 (route A) | This work |
57 (route BC) | ||
64 (route C) | ||
K/ | 17 |
[ |
m | 0.9 |
[ |
The calculation shows that τs<<τm, which suggests that the yield strength after extrusion of 4 passes mainly depends on the size of internal dislocation density of the material. The dislocations inside the material are entangled with each other after Cryo-ECAP, which seriously inhibits the dislocation slip. The Hall-Petch yield strength of singer crystal copper after extrusion of 4 passes through route A, route BC, and route C is 146.5, 124.2, and 141.5 MPa, respectively, which agrees well with the extrusion characteristics of each route. Due to the difference in dislocation plugging on the shear plane caused by different extrusion routes, the mechanical properties of single crystal copper are quite different after different Cryo-ECAP processes.
Due to the highest density of dislocations caused by directional shear, the material deformed by route A has a high tensile strength. Because there is a rotation interval of 90° between each pass during deformation by route BC, the shear plane is subjected to orthogonal shear stresses during the deformation process and the accumulative strain on the material after the same pass is smaller to that through other routes. During deformation by route C, the specimen is rotated of 180° per pass, resulting in the cross-cutting effects on the shear surface. The interaction (annihilation or recombination) of dislocations caused by alternating stresses between adjacent passes leads to a lower dislocation density, so the mechanical properties of singer crystal copper after deformation by route C is intermediat

Fig.10 Fracture morphologies of single crystal copper deformed by Cryo-ECAP of 1 pass (a–b) and 6 passes through route A (c–d), route BC (e–f), and route C (g–h)

Fig.11 Conductivity of single crystal copper deformed by different Cryo-ECAP processes
Due to the elimination of transverse grain boundaries, the single crystal copper is less susceptible to the scattering of electrons, resulting in the high conductivity. With increasing the dislocation density and the number of LAGBs during ECAP, the inferior homogeneity of microstructure slightly promotes the scattering of electrons. With increasing the strain, the conductivity of materials is slightly decreased. The continuous directional-plugging of dislocations on shear plane significantly affects the conductivity during deformation by route A. The orientation of dislocations alternately changes after each pass of route C, resulting in the decreased conductivity. The shear bands alternately change after rotation of 90° during the deformation by route BC, so the conductivity of single crystal copper deformed by route BC is higher than that deformed by route A and route C. In addition, the {111}<110> texture has less influence on the conductivity of single crystal copper during ECAP at room temperature. Based on the analysis of Schmid factor, it is clear that the {111} slip system is dominant in the multi-pass extrusion, which has less influence on the scattering of electrons. The strong {111}<112> texture maintains the high conductivity during Cryo-ECAP deformation. This influence mechanism is different from that of ECAP at room temperature.
1) After the cryogenic equal channel angular pressing (Cryo-ECAP) process with intermediate strain, the high-density dislocation plugging appears inside the shear bands of the single crystal copper deformed by route A, the strong interactions between dislocations occur in the single crystal copper deformed by route BC, and the shear bands are gradually dispersed in the single crystal copper deformed by route C. The shear mode of route A is more conducive to the formation of oriented shear bands in the single crystal microstructure and can promote the formation of nano-twins bundles within the single crystal copper.
2) During Cryo-ECAP deformation through different routes, the sliding mode of single crystal copper is dominated by {111}<110> orientation and the strong {111}<112> texture is formed after Cryo-ECAP of 4 passes. The deformed microstructure maintains the excellent single-crystal state, which can effectively improve the strength and slightly decrease the conductivity.
3) The comprehensive mechanical properties of single crystal copper can be significantly improved by Cryo-ECAP deformation. After Cryo-ECAP of 6 passes through route A, route BC, and route C, the tensile strength reaches 400.2, 383.4, and 377.0 MPa, respectively. The maximum yield strength is 146.5 MPa, the elongation is all above 12%, and the hardness is higher than 1245 MPa after Cryo-ECAP deformation through different routes, indicating that the comprehensive properties are enhanced, compared with those after multi-pass ECAP deformation at room temperature.
4) Single crystal copper processed by Cryo-ECAP has direc-tional shear bands and the high-density dislocations are gene-rated. The dislocation entanglement effectively inhibits the dislocation slip, while the grains maintain the excellent charac-teristics of single crystal material, therefore maintaining the high conductivity and high strength of single crystal copper.
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