Effect of heat treatment over the mechanical properties and the resistance to corrosion of the ternary Cu-Al-Ag alloy

In the present work, the manufacture of a Cu-9Al-3Ag alloy was carried out easily through a green molding process. After dimensioning and slitting, the alloy samples were subjected to quenching, normalizing, and annealing heat treatments, to exert phase transformations that would, in return, aid into clarifying the influence of the phases present on the mechanical properties, such as hardness, as well as the behavior when exposed to a commonly known mildly corrosive media such as NaCl. The results obtained reveal an increase in hardness (assessed through either HRB) and (microhardness HV) in the quenched and annealed sample, as well as better corrosion resistance. The characterization was carried out through optical microscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS), potentiodynamic polarization tests and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy.