Strain compatibility behavior in Cu-6%Ag alloy during drawing into filamentary structure

Cu-6%Ag (mass fraction) microcomposite, of which the primary structure consists of dendritic Cu matrix and non-equilibrium eutectic colonies, was prepared by heavy cold drawing and intermediate heat treatments. The scales of different microstructural components were determined at different draw ratios and the strain compatibility was discussed by evaluating the strain level and strain increase rate for each microstructural component. The microstructural components display different strain levels and strain increase rates in different ranges of drawing strain because both have different characters of strain hardening. Therefore, the strain level and strain increase rate show a non-synchronous increase between both microstructural components with the increase of draw ratio when the microstructural components evolve from original as-cast morphology into filamentary structure.