High-strength Cu–Cr–Zr alloy

Strength & conductivity

Through multi-stage rolling and intermediate aging, this alloy overcomes the conventional strength–conductivity trade-off, achieving superior comprehensive performance.

Zehua, Pan · Huadi, Xu · Luo, Chao · Yu, Wu · Yanggang, Li · 76161029 · Hu, Zhi · Hu, Qiang · Huang, Guojie

Materials Science & Engineering A: Structural Materials: Properties, Microstructure and Processing 2026

Specifications

Ultimate tensile strength

617 MPa

Yield strength

578 MPa

Elongation

4.3 %

Electrical conductivity

81.9 % IACS

Precipitation fraction

99.2 %

Advantages

Simultaneous enhancement

Intermediate aging drives nearly complete precipitation of Cr/Zr-enriched nano-precipitates, reducing solute scattering while the precipitates interact with dislocations to raise strength.

Skip post-aging

After intermediate aging, the precipitation fraction reaches 99.2%, meaning precipitation is essentially complete and further post-aging treatments are unnecessary.

Multi-scale strengthening

High-density dislocations, refined grains, and deformation twins form a synergistic strengthening network, extending the limits of conventional single strengthening mechanisms.

Applications

• High-strength high-conductivity Cu alloys：Replace conventional copper alloys that sacrifice strength or conductivity, for applications demanding both mechanical load bearing and electrical transmission
• Electrical contact components：Fabricate electrical contacts that maintain structural integrity and low contact resistance under frequent mating and current flow
• Interconnect heat dissipation materials：Serve as interconnect and heat-dissipation integrated copper materials for high-power devices, balancing Joule heat extraction and mechanical support