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APPLICATIONS OF THERMO-CALC

Copper

Thermo-Calc can be used to predict thermophysical and phase-based properties as well as to simulate material behavior throughout the materials life cycle for a wide range of Copper alloys.

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Solutions for Copper

Copper can be alloyed with many different elements and there are more than 400 copper alloys that exist, each with a unique combination of properties to suit many applications, manufacturing processes, and environments.

Handbook data typically covers only the most common alloys, and additionally does not always take into account variations in chemistry or processing conditions. Where this data is missing, Thermo-Calc can be used to generate the materials property data and make predictions of material behavior throughout the materials life cycle.

Calculate the following based on your actual alloy chemistry:

  • Thermophysical properties, such as:
    • Specific heat, enthalpy, latent heat, density as a function of temperature, coefficients of thermal expansion, and more
    • Phase-based properties, such as:
      • Critical transformation temperatures such as solvus temperatures of precipitates, amounts and compositions of phases, solubility limits, activities, phase diagrams, and more
      • Equilibrium and non-equilibrium solidification, such as:
        • Liquidus, solidus, incipient melt temperatures, freezing range, fraction solid curves, solidification path, fraction eutectic, microsegregation, partition coefficients, latent heat, shrinkage, and more
        • Homogenization:
          • Optimal homogenization temperatures, time needed to homogenize any chemical segregation arising from solidification, and/or dissolve precipitates
          • Precipitation hardening:
            • Concurrent nucleation, growth/dissolution, coarsening of precipitate phases, volume fraction, and size distribution as a function of time

Application Examples

Thermo-Calc has many applications to Cu-based alloys. Below are two such examples.

Martensite Prediction in Nickel Aluminum Bronze Alloys

Many Nickel Aluminum Bronze (NAB) alloys undergo an allotropic phase transformation, which plays an important role in determining their properties. When cooled rapidly from high temperatures, a martensitic transformation can occur, which can be detrimental to mechanical properties and corrosion resistance. Thermo-Calc can calculate the T0 (T-Zero) temperature, which is a reasonable estimate of the martensite start temperature.

This figure shows the calculated T0 temperature as a function of Al content for a nominal composition of UNS C95520, Cu-10Al-5Fe-5Ni (wt%).

A plot showing the calculated T0 temperature as a function of Al content for a nominal composition of UNS C95520, Cu-10Al-5Fe-5Ni (wt%).

Precipitation Behavior of Cu-Ni-Si Alloys

Cu-Ni-Si alloys are precipitation strengthened and known for their high strength, high electrical conductivity, and excellent bending workability. Watanabe and Monzen experimentally determined precipitation behavior of the Cu-1.86 wt.% Ni-0.45 wt.% Si alloy at 923 and 948 K. Their measurements show that the precipitate (Ni2Si) is rod-shaped with an aspect ratio of 13.

This figure shows a simulation made using the Precipitation Module (TC-PRISMA) for these precipitates undergoing an isothermal heat treatment compared with the experimental data. Further simulations could be used to optimize the heat treatment schedule or determine the extent of precipitation given a thermal cycle imposed as a result of a process, for instance, welding or soldering.

A plot showing the simulated average length and width of rod shaped precipitates with aging time for Cu 1.86wt%Ni-0.45wt%Si-alloy at 948K compared with reported experimental data.
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Learn more about Applications to Cu-based Alloys

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Phase Transformations and Kinetic Simulations of Cu-based Alloys

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Mechanism investigation on high-performance Cu-Cr-Ti alloy via integrated computational materials engineering

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Failure and fracture analysis of a high-alloy Ni-Al bronze chain connector of a tube drawing machine

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Kinetic Simulations of Diffusion-Controlled Phase Transformations in Cu-Based Alloys

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