Correlation between the electrical conductivity and aging treatment for a Cu-15 wt% Cr alloy composite formed in-situ

The electrical conductivity of CuCr in-situ composite can be greatly improved by an appropriate aging treatment due to the Cr precipitation in the Cu matrix. The peak conductivity when aging is done at 873 K, corresponds to the precipitation of Cr-bcc phase with needle-like morphology. The early stage precipitates were determined to be Cr-rich clusters and Cr GP zones.