Characteristic investigation of trilayered Cu/Al8011/Al1060 composite: Interface morphology, microstructure, and in-situ tensile deformation

In this work, Cu/Al8011/Al1060 trilayered composite with an ultrathin copper layer was fabricated successfully by the hybrid process of cast-rolling and hot-roll-bonding. The effects of heat treatment were investigated on the microstructure and mechanical behavior of the composite. The results showed that annealing temperatures above 300 ​°C led to the formation of new intermetallic compounds that joined their initial counterparts. Also, the interface growth was fast above 340 ​°C. It was found that the annealing temperature of 320 ​°C led to the optimal tensile properties of the composite. Through rolling, hard-brittle IMCs imposed intense plastic strains on the surrounding regions, resulting in further grain refinement of both metals in the vicinity of the interface. Although the kernel average misorientation of the trilayered composite was almost identical with the Cu/Al8011 bimetal, its amount was considerably decreased after heat treatment, as the distorted structure changed into a nearly strain-free one using the restoration phenomenon. The SEM-based in-situ tensile test showed that crack initiation occurred within the IMCs and propagated into the Cu strip, leading to its early fracture. However, the strength-displacement curve during in-situ tensile deformation did not decrease significantly due to the ultrathin copper layer.