# US 2021/0340658 A1 · High-strength and high-conductivity cu-ag-sc alloy and preparation method thereof

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- Number: US 2021/0340658 A1
- Document ID: US20210340658A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 17/266,921
- Filed: 2020-04-23
- Published: 2021-11-04
- Earliest claimed: 2019-05-15
- Assignees: Northeastern University
- Applicants: Northeastern University
- Inventors: Engang WANG; Bailing AN; Lin ZHANG
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20210340658A1

## CPC

- C22C 1/02: by melting {(C22C1/1036 takes precedence)}
- C22F 1/08: of copper or alloys based thereon
- C22C 1/03: using master alloys
- C22C 9/00: Alloys based on copper
- C22F 1/02: in inert or controlled atmosphere or vacuum (adjusting the composition of the atmosphere C21D1/76)
- C22C: ALLOYS (treatment of alloys C21D, C22F)
- C22F: CHANGING THE PHYSICAL STRUCTURE OF NON-FERROUS METALS AND NON-FERROUS ALLOYS (surface treatment of metallic material involving at least one process provided for in class C23 and at least one process covered by this subclass, C23F17/00)

## Abstract

Provided are a high-strength and high-conductivity Cu—Ag—Sc alloy and a preparation method thereof. The preparation method includes the following steps: (1) placing metal Ag and metal Sc in an electric-arc furnace and performing smelting under a vacuum condition, performing cooling to normal temperature in the furnace to obtain an Ag—Sc intermediate alloy; (2) placing the Ag—Sc intermediate alloy, an electrolytic copper and the metal Ag in an induction furnace and performing heating to 1200-1300° C. under a vacuum condition, keeping at the temperature for 10-60 min for smelting, then performing casting and cooling to normal temperature in the furnace to obtain ingots; (3) heating the ingots to 700-850° C. under an inert atmosphere, then performing water quenching to normal temperature to obtain heat-treated ingots; and (4) heating the heat-treated ingots to 400-500° C. under an inert atmosphere, then performing air cooling to normal temperature to obtain the high-strength and high-conductivity Cu—Ag—Sc.

## Claims

### Claim 1

(canceled)

### Claim 2

A preparation method of a high-strength and high-conductivity Cu—Ag—Sc alloy, comprising the following steps:
(1) placing metal Ag and metal Sc in an electric-arc furnace and smelting the metal Ag and the metal Sc under a vacuum condition, then performing cooling to normal temperature in the furnace to obtain an Ag—Sc intermediate alloy, wherein the Ag—Sc intermediate alloy includes 0.5-5 wt % Sc;
(2) placing the Ag—Sc intermediate alloy, an electrolytic copper and the metal Ag in an induction furnace and performing heating to 1200-1300° C. under a vacuum condition, keeping at the temperature for 10-60 min for smelting, then performing casting and cooling to normal temperature in the furnace to obtain ingots, wherein the components of the ingots are: 1-10 wt % Ag, 0.05-0.5 wt % Sc and a balance Cu;
(3) heating the ingots to 700-850° C. under an inert atmosphere and keeping at the temperature for 1-15 h for heat treatment, then performing water quenching to normal temperature to obtain heat-treated ingots; and
(4) heating the heat-treated ingots to 400-500° C. under an inert atmosphere and keeping at the temperature for 2-20 h for aging treatment, then performing air cooling to normal temperature to obtain the high-strength and high-conductivity Cu—Ag—Sc alloy, wherein hardness and electrical conductivity of the high-strength and high-conductivity Cu—Ag—Sc alloy are 88-148 HV and 83-88% IACS, respectively.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The method according to claim 2, wherein the vacuum condition in the step (1) and the step (2) is that the vacuum degree is smaller than or equal to 10−2 MPa.

### Claim 4 (depends on 2)

The method according to claim 2, wherein the inert atmosphere in the step (3) is an argon atmosphere.