Enhanced precipitation hardening in nanograined CuCrZr alloy

Nanograins were induced in solid solution CuCrZr alloy by surface mechanical grinding treatment, followed by aging treatment to investigate the precipitation behavior and hardening effect of the nanograins. Experimental results showed that body-centered cubic Cr nanoparticles precipitated at nanograin boundaries accompanied with slight nanograin coarsening, yielding a considerable precipitation hardening, even twice that of coarse grains. The hardening mechanism of grain boundary nanoprecipitates in nanograins was discussed.