Effect of short-range order on microstructure, texture and strain hardening of cold drawn Cu-10 at.%Mn alloy

The aim of the present study is to investigate the effect of short-range order (SRO) on the microstructural evolution and mechanical property of Cu-10at.%Mn alloy during cold drawing deformation. Characterization of the cold drawn Cu-10at.%Mn alloy samples were performed using transmission electron microscope (TEM) and electron back scattering diffraction (EBSD), and their hardness were also tested. The results show that SRO is beneficial for both twinning and the transition of dislocation glide from wavy slip to planar slip at the low strains. At the high strains, the wavy slip generates due to the destruction of SRO. SRO increases the volume fraction of 〈111〉 texture component and the critical strain threshold. Moreover, the presence of SRO significantly improves strain hardening by combining the effects of dislocation, deformation twinning and texture hardening, which results in a significant increase of hardness.