Copper alloys, combining optimized strength with high electrical and thermal conductivity, are analyzed in-depth, in order to meet the increasing requirements of today’s and tomorrow’s applications in the electrical and automotive industries. The conducted research analyzes alloys with up to 0.3 wt.% scandium, as an alloying element with limited solubility in copper. For the simultaneous enhancement of mechanical strength and conductivity, precipitation hardening is the conducted process method, accompanied by experimental and simulation-based investigations. Therefore, the influence of aging temperatures, in the range of 350 °C to 500 °C, is analyzed in combination with 25%, 50%, and 75% prior cold deformation. CuSc starts precipitating at 375 °C, without prior cold working, whereas mechanical deformation refines the growing intermetallic precipitates. Higher temperatures improve the formation of precipitates but carry the risk of overaging. The first key achievement is to use a thoroughly examined thermomechanical treatment, investigating the growth of precipitates to reach significantly higher hardness than the benchmark alloy, CuZr0.15. Furthermore, the analyzed CuSc alloys show advantages in the investigated recrystallization behavior, making them, especially, applicable for higher operating temperatures. Future research will assess ternary alloying combinations, to further scoop the latent potential of CuSc alloys.

The addition of alloying elements is a crucial factor in improving the mechanical properties of pure copper, particularly in terms of enhancing its yield strength and hardness. This study examines the influence of scandium additions (up to 0.27 wt.%) on low-alloyed copper. Following the casting and solution-annealing processes, the alloys were quenched in water to maintain a supersaturated state. The mechanical properties were evaluated by tensile tests to measure the yield strength and the dynamic resonance method to determine the modulus of rigidity. Additionally, X-ray diffraction was utilized to analyze changes in lattice parameters, elucidating the structural modifications induced by scandium. This study dissects the parelastic and dielastic effects underlying the solid solution hardening mechanism, providing insights into how scandium alters copper’s mechanical properties. The findings align with the solid solution hardening theories proposed by Fleischer and Labusch, providing a comprehensive understanding of the observed phenomena.

The present study aimed to investigate the effect of cold deformation on the precipitation kinetics of a binary CuSc alloy containing 0.4 wt.% scandium using the experimental analysis method of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Non-deformed and 75% cross-section-reduced cold-rolled supersaturated specimens were tested in non-isothermal DSC runs at up to five different heating rates. The DSC results showed that cold rolling significantly accelerated the precipitation process in the binary alloy, leading to a decrease in the initial and peak temperatures of the exothermic reactions. The activation energies calculated with the Kissinger method indicated that the precipitation activation energy decreased with increasing cold deformation. The findings of this study provide worthy implications to further optimize the processing of Cu-Sc alloys with improved mechanical properties.

The present study aimed to investigate the effect of cold deformation on the precipitation kinetics of a binary CuSc alloy containing 0.4 wt.% scandium using the experimental analysis method of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Non-deformed and 75% cross-section reduced cold-rolled, supersaturated specimens were tested at non-isothermal DSC runs at up to five different heating rates. The DSC results showed that cold deformation significantly accelerated the precipitation process in the binary alloy, leading to a decrease in the initial and peak temperatures of the exothermic reactions. The activation energies calculated with the Kissinger method, indicated that the precipitation activation energy decreased with increasing cold deformation. The findings of this study provide worthy implications to further optimize the processing of Cu-Sc alloys with improved mechanical properties.