Influence of Multiaxial Cryoforging on Microstructural, Mechanical, and Corrosion Properties of Copper-Titanium Alloy

Multiaxial forging (MAF) was used to process Cu-4.5%Ti (wt.%) alloy at cryogenic temperature up to three cycles with a cumulative strain of 1.64. Microstructures, mechanical, and corrosion properties of as-received and deformed samples were analyzed. Microstructural analysis showed that average grain size decreased from 70 µm to 200 nm, and electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) analysis revealed the transformation of high-angle grain boundaries (HAGBs) to low-angle grain boundaries (LAGBs). Variations in intensity of peaks were observed by x-ray diffraction (XRD) technique. Microstructural investigation showed elongated grains with shear bands having width ~ 200 nm for 3-cycle sample. Tensile testing and micro-hardness tests showed improvements in ultimate tensile strength (UTS), yield strength (YS), and micro-hardness, with the increase in MAF cycles. Ultimate tensile strength and hardness increased from 605 MPa and 252 HV (for as-received) to 1284 MPa and 428 HV for three cycles of MAF-processed sample, respectively. Improvement in strength and hardness was attributed to refined grain structure. Corrosion study was carried out for different cycles of MAF-processed samples using potentiodynamic polarization, and corroded surfaces were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) analysis.