Technical Notes - Deformation and Recrystallization Texture of Cold-Drawn OFHC Copper Wire

THE texture of cold-drawn copper wire has been described most often as a composite of [Ill] and [loo] directions aligned parallel to the wire axis.' Hibbard2 suggested that sufficient reduction will result in a single [111] texture and reported that after a reduction in area of 96.4 pct, such a texture was nearly obtained. Other work3-4 has shown that recrystallization within the temperature range of 300" to 1000°C does not alter the texture established by cold-drawing. In general, however, the texture of cold-drawn end annealed copper wire is not as well defined as the deformation texture. In the work reported here it was found that the double-fiber, deformation texture persists even after a reduction in area of 97.3 pct, and after recrystallization the texture is practically all [l00]. The wire used in this work was prepared in the following way. A 3/4-in. diam length of annealed OFHC copper was cold-drawn to a diameter of 1/8 in., a reduction in area of 97.3 pct. Each step in the drawing operation brought about a reduction in area that varied from 6 to 10 pct. Short lengths of this wire were etched in a 50-pct solution of nitric acid to a diameter of approximately 0.01 in. The texture of the cold-drawn specimens was determined with the conventional X-ray transmission diffraction technique using filtered copper radiation. The X-ray beam was directed perpendicularly to the wire axis and the diffraction rings were recorded on a flat film. Fig. la is typical of the photo-grams obtained and reveals that the cold-drawing schedule described above introduces a distinct, double-fiber texture with both [Ill] and [l00] directions aligned parallel to the wire axis. Supplementary measurements with a Geiger-Mueller counter of the intensity of reflection from (111) planes showed that the [111] component was much more predominant than the [l00]. Additional specimens of the drawn and etched wire were annealed in a salt bath at temperatures from 300" to 450°C. The texture of the recrystal-lized wire was studied with the same technique applied to the cold-drawn wire. Fig. lb is an X-ray photogram of a specimen annealed for 1 ½ at 300°C and is typical of those obtained from re-crystallized specimens. The photogram shows that recrystallization of this material is accompanied by the almost complete elimination of the [111] component of the deformation texture. A pronounced strengthening of the [100] component was evident from intensity measurements with a Geiger-Mueller counter. In summary, the deformation texture of cold-drawn OFHC copper wire, after a reduction in area of 97.3 pct, may still be described as a composite of [Ill] and [loo] directions aligned parallel to the wire axis. Recrystallization of such wire at temperatures from 300" to 450°C introduces a texture which consists almost entirely of a [loo] alignment. Acknowledgment Sidney Rolle of the Scomet Engineering Co. generously supplied the OFHC copper used in this work. References 'C. S. Barrett: Structure of Metals. p. 382 (1943) New York. McGraw-Hill Book Co. 2 W. R. Hibbard, Jr.: Trans. AIME (1949) -185, p. 598; Journal of Metals (Sept. 1949) TN 19E. 3 P. 422 of ref. 1. 'E. Schmid and G. Wasserman: Ztsch. Physik (1926) 40, p. 451.