Effect Of Electrical Current Pulses On Microstructure And Texture Evolution In A Cu-Zn Alloy

Microstructure evolution of materials under external fields plays an essential role in materials science. Up to now, the studies about the effect of electric current on grain refinement have been extensively investigated. However, the effect of electric current on grain orientation is still an open question. In this work, the effect of electric current pulses (ECP) on microstructures and texture evolution in a Cu-Zn alloy is investigated by using varied analysis methods, including the Optical microscope, the Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD) and X-ray Diffraction (XRD).To make an appropriate cold rolling reduction, the texture evolution under different cold rolling deformation,10%、20%、30%、40%, was studied. Results showed when the reduction got to30%deformation, the texture intensity and the texture component became stable. Based on this result, the reduction of30%was selected.To investigate the effect of current direction on texture evolution, the similar condition of deformation reduction and current density was used. The current density was1.32×10A/cm2, and the corresponding temperature rise was730℃. Results showed when the current direction was parallel to the rolling direction, the orientation density was the lowest one, and the grains distribute randomly. When the angle between the current direction and the rolling direction was30°, the stronger texture was obtained in both α and β’ phases. In addition, due to the different angles between the current direction and rolling direction, the different grain sizes were investigated after electric current passing,18μm,34μm,40μm and42μm, respectively for0°,30°,60°,90°TEM was used to clarify the effect of current direction on microstructures. Results showed that due to the application of electric current, the original deformed microstructures disappeared, and the different microstructures were obtained due to the different exerted current direction. Especially, lots of twins were observed when the angle between current direction and rolling direction was30°, which was agreed with the results obtained from the texture analysis.