Formation of a solid solution through accumulative roll bonding (ARB) and post-heat treatment of multilayered Cu/Zn/Al

In the present study, the capability of accumulative roll bonding (ARB) and subsequent heat-treatment to fabricate solid solution from a multilayered Cu/Zn/Al was investigated. Two post-heat treatment (one-step and two-step) routes were proposed. In the first, the ARB processed material was heated to 800 C for 5:30 hours and allowed to cool slowly in a furnace (one-step route). In the second (two-step route), the composite was heated to 800 C for 3 hours and quenched in the cold water (0 ºC). The microstructures were characterized using a field emission scanning electron microscope (SEM) equipped with energy dispersive x-ray detector (EDX). The x-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern was used to identify the phases. Results showed that even after imposing high ARB cycles (up to 14 cycles), the solid solution could not be formed so far. However, after the subsequent heat-treatment, Cu, Zn and Al distributed uniformly in the microstructure and a copper-based solid solution was formed.