Effect of High Strain-Rate Deformation and Aging Temperature on the Evolution of Structure, Microhardness, and Wear Resistance of Low-Alloyed Cu–Cr–Zr Alloy

The effect of the preliminary high strain-rate deformation, performed via the method of dynamic channel-angular pressing (DCAP), and subsequent annealings on the tribological properties of a dispersionhardened Cu–0.092 wt % Cr–0.086 wt % Zr alloy has been investigated. It has been shown that the surfacelayer material of the alloy with a submicrocrystalline (SMC) structure obtained by the DCAP method can be strengthened using severe plastic deformation by sliding friction at the expense of creating a nanocrystalline structure with crystallites of 15–60 nm in size. It has been shown that the SMC structure obtained by the high strain-rate DCAP deformation decreases the wear rate of the samples upon sliding friction by a factor of 1.4 compared to the initial coarse-grained state. The maximum values of the microhardness and minimum values of the coefficient of friction and shear strength have been obtained in the samples preliminarily subjected to DCAP and aging at 400°С. The attained level of microhardness is 3350 MPa, which exceeds the microhardness of the alloy in the initial coarse-grained state by five times.