Effect of the Rolling Temperature on the Microstructure of the Cu-10Fe Alloys during Warm Rolling

Cu-Fe alloys exhibit excellent performance, and increasing Fe content reduces costs. However, high-Fe Cu-Fe alloys exhibit limited formability at room temperature, while warm rolling improves their processability. This research investigates the effect of rolling temperature on the microstructural transformations and texture development in the Cu-10Fe alloys. The experimental result is that during cold rolling, the morphology of Fe phases is mainly fibrous. With the rolling temperature rising, the microstructural morphology of Fe phases becomes globular / elliptical. The difference is that with the increase in rolling temperature, the average grain size of the Cu-10Fe alloy first decreases and then increases. The matrix microstructure remains dominated by deformed grains, with significant recovery observed at 500 °C. The Fe-phase microstructure primarily consists of substructured grains, and dynamic recovery intensifies with rising temperature. During cold rolling, high dislocation density and localized strain heterogeneity lead to dispersed texture orientations and low strength. In contrast, warm rolling promotes dislocation climb and dynamic recovery, triggering partial recrystallization. This reduces randomly oriented grains, enhances the strength and continuity of specific textures, and establishes a more concentrated texture distribution. This forms a structure with fine recrystallized grains embedded within deformed grains, exhibiting slightly lower strength than cold-rolled samples but better elongation. These findings reveal the crucial role of deformation temperature in controlling microstructure transformation and texture evolution, especially by regulating the recovery and recrystallization behaviors of Cu-10Fe alloys. The above results hope to provide some theoretical and experimental basis for a new approach to improve processing technologies for new Cu-Fe-based composites.