Cu/Nb laminated metallic composites (LMCs) exhibit extraordinary mechanical strength while electrical conductivity is maintained at a high level. In this research, Cu‐based LMCs with varying volume fraction of niobium are produced via accumulative roll bonding (ARB) and additionally cold‐rolled and heat‐treated to identify the role of these heterogeneous phase boundaries on the overall sheet properties. Deformation structures in these layered materials are studied through scanning transmission electron microscopy investigations. The existence of an interface‐affected zone at the phase boundaries and mechanical intermixing is attributed to decreasing electrical and increasing mechanical properties, especially in very thin layered LMCs. Atom probe tomography measurements show that mechanical alloying occurs due to severe plastic deformation during ARB processing of the laminates. An additional subsequent heat treatment leads to chemical demixing at the interfaces of the phase boundaries.

Heterostructured materials such as metallic laminates (LMCs) can be specifically tailored to showcase significantly increased mechanical behavior based on the hetero-deformation-induced (HDI) strengthening effect caused by the co-deformation at the vicinity of interfaces. This study introduces a new approach to quantify these co-deformation effects in metallic laminates by characterizing the behavior of inelastic back strain upon unloading. Experimentally, the inelastic back strain (IBS) is determined by cyclic loading–unloading–reloading (LUR) tensile tests. Compared to a linear rule of mixture (ROM) approximation used as a reference, additional amounts of inelastic back strain were measured for different metallic laminate systems, strongly depending on the dissimilarities of yield strength and elastic moduli of constituents and the interface density in the laminates. Conducting finite element analysis, the distribution of residual plastic strain was investigated for the different metallic laminates used in this study. Based on this, a schematic overview of the spatial distribution of the hetero-deformation zone for metallic laminates with dissimilar yield strength and elastic moduli is derived, summarizing the results of this study. As most mechanical components are subject to cyclic stresses during the application, the method provided in this study to characterize the co-deformation behavior of metallic laminates in the microyielding regime enables valuable insights into mechanisms affecting the cyclic deformation behavior of metallic laminates for future applications.

Copper alloys containing chromium and hafnium combine elevated mechanical strength and high electrical and thermal conductivity. For the simultaneous enhancement of both material properties, precipitation hardening is the utilized mechanism. Therefore, the aim is to analyze the influence of chromium and hafnium in binary and ternary low-alloyed copper alloys and to compare the precipitation processes during temperature exposure. Atom probe tomography (APT) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) measurements enable to understand the precipitation sequence in detail. CuCr0.7 starts to precipitate directly, whereas CuHf0.7 is highly influenced by prior diffusion facilitating cold rolling. Within the ternary alloy, hafnium atoms accumulate at the shell of mainly Cr-containing precipitates. Increasing the local hafnium concentration results in the formation of intermetallic CuHf precipitates at the sites of mainly Cr-containing precipitates. Indirect methods are utilized to investigate the materials’ properties and show the impact of cold rolling prior to an aging treatment on binary alloys CuCr and CuHf. Finally, ternary alloys combine the benefits of facilitated precipitation processes and decelerated growing and coarsening, which classifies the alloys to be applicable for usage at elevated temperatures.