Influence of Grain Boundaries on the Electrical Conductivity of Copper Alloys

The experimentally found insensitivity of the resistivity of Cu–Cr and Cu–Cr–Zr alloys to structural modifications in alloy specimens subjected to severe plastic deformation has been studied by analytical modeling methods. Using Cu–1.8 wt% Cr–0.8 wt% Zr alloy as an example, it has been shown that an increased contribution of grain boundaries and secondary phase fine particles precipitated after equal channel angular pressing make an increased contribution to resistivity but this increase is compensated for by roughly the same decrease in the contribution from alloying atoms dissolved in the matrix.