Effect of V addition on hardness and electrical conductivity in Cu-Ni-Si alloys

The effect of vanadium (V) addition on the microstructure, the hardness and the electrical conductivity of Cu-2.8Ni-0.7Si alloys was investigated. The V-free, the 0.1 wt% V-added, the 0.2 wt% V-added Cu base alloys were exposed to the same experimental conditions. After the cold rolling of the studied alloys, the matrix was recrystallized during the solution heat treatment at 950 °C for 2 h. However, small amounts of vanadium substantially suppressed the recrystallization and retarded the grain growth of the Cu base alloys. The added vanadium accelerated the precipitation of Ni2Si intermetallic compounds during aging and therefore it contributed positively to the resultant hardness and electrical conductivity. It was found that the hardness and the electrical conductivity increased simultaneously with increasing aging temperature and time with accelerated precipitation kinetics by the addition of vanadium. In the present study, the Cu-2.8Ni-0.7Si alloy with 0.1 wt%V was found to have an excellent combination of the hardness and the electrical conductivity when it was aged at 500 °C.