Dr. Jun Hyun Han, Professor, Dept. of Materials Science & Engineering, Chungnam National University, Daejeon, Korea

Title: Effect of heat treatment on microstructure of Cu-Sn alloy

Abstract: Cu-Sn alloy is well known as bronze, which have been used for cultural heritage, bowls, or musical instruments. In spite of high cost of the Cu-Sn alloys, the demand for the Cu-Sn alloys is increasing due to their cultural value, thermal insulation properties, and excellent antibacterial properties. However, the Cu-Sn alloys fabricated by casting have low mechanical strength and low elongation, which is due to presence of brittle δ phase. Their mechanical properties can be improved by microstructure controlling via various plastic deformations and heat treatments. In this work, microstructure of Cu-Sn alloy was controlled by various heat treatment processes. We changed the cooling temperature and cooling method (water quenching and air cooling), and analyzed the changes of microstructures and mechanical properties. In addition, tempering was carried out after quenching for softening of martensite phases, and tempering temperature and time were varied. As a result, we could get a (α+γ’) phase with high strength and high elongation.

Keywords: Cu-Su alloy, Heat treatment, Microstructure, Mechanical property, Martensite