influence of post-processing on creep and microstructure of olled Cu – 8 Cr – 4

Previous work has shown that rolling of an extruded Cu–8Cr–4Nb (GRCop-84) alloy results in higher steady-state creep rates over a range of stresses, leading to concern that other post-processing methods could have substantial deleterious effects on creep properties. To explore that possibility, constant-stress creep tests were conducted at 773 K on rolled GRCop-84 after it was subjected to either friction stir welding (FSW) or a 24 h 1073 K simulated-life heat treatment. The FSW had no measurable effect on the creep rate of the rolled material, but did have detrimental effects on the creep ductility caused by softening,