International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET)

Volume 8, Issue 1, January 2017, pp. 200207, Article ID: IJMET_08_01_022

Available online at http://www.iaeme.com/IJMET/issues.asp?JType=IJMET&VType=8&IType=1
ISSN Print: 0976-6340 and ISSN Online: 0976-6359
IAEME Publication

BEHAVIOR TO DAMAGE OF TWO HARDENING

PRECIPITATION COPPER ALLOYS: EXPERIMENTAL
CHARACTERIZATION AND NUMERICAL STUDY
B. Saadouki
Laboratory of Control and Mechanical Characterization of Materials and Structures, National Higher
School of Electricity and Mechanics, BP 8118 Oasis, Hassan II University, Casablanca, Morocco

J. Nattaj
Laboratory of Atmospheres Physics and Modeling, FST Mohammadia,
Hassan II University, Casablanca, Morocco

M. Elghorba
Laboratory of Control and Mechanical Characterization of Materials and Structures, National Higher
School of Electricity and Mechanics, BP 8118 Oasis, Hassan II University, Casablanca, Morocco

ABSTRACT
In this work, we basically want to compare the mechanical behavior of two cuprous
precipitation hardening. In the first part, we characterized experimentally both cuprous by simple
tensile tests, the Cu-Ni-Si displays a more interesting mechanical behavior that Cu-Co-P. For the
second part, the damage behavior has been studied numerically by measuring the variation of the
ultimate residual stress as a function of the notch length; this parameter reflects the strength loss
for tensile test. We have reproduced the phenomenon of damage faced during the deterioration of
materials through a static damage theory and a reliability optimization of damage. The specimens
underwent progressive damage progressively as their notches become larger until they arrive at
failure, the evolution of the damage starts with an introductory stage followed by propagation of
damage to major notches and finally a brutal damage leads to failure. This study has reliably
predicted the fracture behavior for these cuprous.
Key words: Cuprous, notch, damage-reliability, ultimate residual stress, life fraction
Cite this Article: B. Saadouki, J. Nattaj and M. Elghorba. Behavior to Damage of Two Hardening
Precipitation Copper Alloys: Experimental Characterization and Numerical Study. International
Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology, 8(1), 2017, pp. 200207.
http://www.iaeme.com/IJMET/issues.asp?JType=IJMET&VType=8&IType=1

1. INTRODUCTION
The electrical interconnection evolves rapidly, whether it is in the electronic domain (component support
grids, contacts), or in the connectivity domain (Clips, spades, connectors). The dimension of pieces,
conveying the electrical current, decreases incessantly. On the other hand, the contact shape complexity is
only in increase. The alloy and cuprous half products manufacturers are consequently submitted to the
following challenge: increasing the electrical and thermal conductivity of conventional alloys in order to

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 Behavior to Damage of Two Hardening Precipitation Copper Alloys: Experimental Characterization and
Numerical Study

limit the connectors reheating and keep or improve the mechanical properties. This mission is
accomplished by bronzes and precipitation hardening copper alloys.
Copper alloys that can be precipitation hardened are very numerous; however; only are interesting for
industry those representing mechanical characteristics superior to that of copper at the same time that one
or the other specific properties of this metal: high electrical and thermal conductivity, magnetism and
corrosion resistance.
In order to an alloy can present precipitation hardening, it is necessary, among others, which the
equilibrium solubility of the alloying element grows quite strongly with temperature. Many elements
show in copper this particularity (cobalt, iron, chromium, nickel, beryllium).
The compromise mechanical characteristics-electrical-conductivity comes first to determine the
employment possibilities for these various alloys. Unfortunately, those are the elements that allow the
strongest precipitation hardening (beryllium for example) which lead also the lowest electrical conductivity
[1]. For the main precipitation hardening copper alloys in quenched and tempered condition, the
mechanical strength and electrical conductivity vary in opposite direction one from the other. In this work,
we are interested in studying the mechanical behavior of two precipitation hardening copper alloys. The
first is a Cu-Ni-Si alloy and the second is a copper doped with cobalt and phosphorus. However, literature
has studied these materials in metallurgical and electrical viewpoint, rarely are those who are interested in
their mechanical behavior.
The alloys of the Cu-Ni-Si family combine high mechanical strength and good electrical and thermal
conductivity. They generally contain from 1.4 to 3.8% Ni and 0.2 to 1.8% Si. These alloys are usually
hardened by the precipitation of the Ni2Si phase; other types of precipitates such as Ni3Si and Ni5Si2 are
sometimes found in some Cu-Ni-Si alloys [2].
Sun [3] studied the influence of the speed and temperature on the mechanical behavior of a Cu-Ni-Si, it
has an acceptable ductility at room temperature (elongations at fracture are respectively equal to 13.6% and
14.9% for the two speeds of deformation 2.10-3 and 5.10-6 s-1). This alloy exhibits a behavior with a fragile
character when the test temperature increases and / or the speed of solicitation is reduced. A comparison of
Cu-Ni-Si tensile behavior between a cold worked and precipitation hardening condition was carried out by
[4]. The hardening process has produced a double strength material at fracture and reduced ductility, while
Young's modulus was not affected. The yield strength is insensitive to temperature and the tenacity
increases when the temperature is reduced.
The structural hardening of the Cu-Co alloy family comes from the existence of compounds rich in
cobalt and other alloying elements. The literature has extensively studied this family in magnetic
viewpoint; few people were interested in its mechanical aspect. The cobalt precipitated in a copper alloy
containing only cobalt only allows a sensitive improvement of mechanical properties. This is rarely found
a copper only alloyed that cobalt [5], the addition of other elements such as nickel, silicon, phosphorus and
many other elements improves the behavior according to the intended use.

2. MATERIALS AND METHOD

2.1. Investigated Materials
Both cuprous are received in rolled bar form, preliminary tests in the longitudinal and perpendicular
direction confirmed the two materials isotropy. The Cu-Ni-Si and the Cu-Co appear respectively an
electrical conductivity of 45% and 85% IACS. The chemical composition is the main determinant factor of
electrical and mechanical material properties.

2.2. Tensile Tests

Tensile tests were performed on the Cu-Ni-Si and Cu-Co-P to identify the main mechanical characteristics.
They were executed on flat specimens extended from either side by attachment heads with appropriate

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 B. Saadouki, J. Nattaj and M. Elghorba

form for fixation. The specimen thus fixed between the two jaws of the tensile machine is subjected to
uniaxial
al stress. The extensometer is attached between the two spotting points defining the useful portion of
the specimen L0 (Where the stress state is homogeneous). The used specimen geometry is illustrated in
figure 1.

Figure 1 Tensile specimen geometry

The values measured directly during tensile tests are the strength F and the elongation L, the
transition to conventional diagrams nominal stress (F/S0) nominal strain 100 allows assessing
material strength regardless of its section and geometry.
geometry During the test, the effort increases continuously,
both materials lie down elastically and uniformly and then, beyond the elastic limit, the plastic elongation
is added. The contraction zone appears in the form of non-uniform
non uniform plastic strain and rupture occurs.
oc To
situate the two materials, the figure 2 shows a comparison between the tensile curves of both materials
obtained from the longitudinal direction testing.

Figure 2 Comparison between Cu-Ni-Si and Cu-Co-P tensile curves

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 Behavior to Damage of Two Hardening Precipitation Copper Alloys: Experimental Characterization and
Numerical Study

Table 1 Classical Mechanical Characteristic of Cu-Ni-Si and Cu-Co-P.

Elasticity Yield stress at Ultimate Rupture Poisson
module 0.2 % Tensile elongation coefficient
Material E(GPa) Re0.2% strength Rm A%
(MPa) (MPa)

Cu-Ni-Si 123 567 646 21.14 0.35

Cu-Co-P 123 361 441 18.81 0.35

Furthermore the remarkable tensile strength of 646 MPa improved through the Silicon, the Cu-Ni-Si
possesses a rupture elongation of 21 %, and this ductility is essentially due to the high temperature of the
solution treatment-quench phase of the hardening treatment. The progressive passage in the tensile curve,
of linear elasticity to plastic deformation necessitates defining of conventional yield stress Re0.2% which is
in the order of 567 MPa. From this stress value, we note a low permanent elongation but precisely
measurable. The mechanical behavior ceases to be elastic to become plastic.
The Cu-Co-P also offers notable mechanical characteristics, with the tensile strength of 441 MPa and a
yield strength Re0.2% of 361 MPa. The slope of the two cuprous stress-strain curves is almost the same.
Consequently, both alloys have the same Young's modulus (123 MPa) and resists similarly to the elastic
deformation. However, this module cannot be precisely determined from tensile tests. We can also
observe a significant difference between the two materials, the level of stress required to deform plastically
the Cu-Ni-Si is clearly higher to the one of the Cu-Co-P, and the two materials present a very significant
strain hardening phase with close values of rupture elongation. The Cu-Ni-Si shows the best tensile
strength.

2.3. Numerical Modeling

The numerical modeling proposes a simulation of the material damage process through a study of the notch
effect on the material lifetime. The figure 3 shows the specimen geometry used for the tensile numerical
simulation test. For symmetry reasons, only a quarter of the specimen test is modeled. The model is
meshed on hexagonal elements in plane strain. The meshing is refined on the effective length of the
specimen test. The nodes on the two axes of symmetry are blocked in a translation each along X and the
others along Y. A displacement is imposed on the specimen upper portion.

(a) (b)
Figure 3 Notched specimen: (a) geometry (b) Numerical simulation

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 B. Saadouki, J. Nattaj and M. Elghorba

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

3.1. Residual Strength
The simulation results of the tensile test are given in the form of the stress-strain curves, notches from 2a=
2 to 8 mm were modeled on the specimen to visualize the defect effect on the material strength. Cu-Ni-Si
and Cu-Co-P loss strength is traducing by decrease of the residual ultimate strength depending the notch
length. This decrease is mainly due to damage phenomenon.

(a) (b)
Figure 4 stress-strain curves for doubly notched specimen at different lengths of notches. (a) Cu-Ni-Si (b) Cu-Co-P
Residual stresses are generally defined as internal stresses remaining in mechanical parts when those
latter are not subject to any external force [6]. These stresses decrease once the material structure present a
geometric discontinuity which causes the increase in local stress by the stress concentration factor. The
created stress field in the proximity of these influences many discontinuities lifetime material. This
effect is clearly illustrated in the figure 4 curves, the specimen answer overlooked the solicitation varies
with the length of the notch, the ultimate residual stress decreases gradually as this length increases.

Figure 5 Cu-Ni-Si and Cu-Co-P residual ultimate stress variation depending of the notch length
For both materials, the residual ultimate stress varies linearly with the length of notch. It follows a
decreasing pace when the notch becomes bigger (figure 5). This can be explained by the loss of resistance
that increases with the size of the defect. When the specimen is pristine, we extracted the value of the
ultimate stress u.

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 Behavior to Damage of Two Hardening Precipitation Copper Alloys: Experimental Characterization and
Numerical Study

3.2. Damage Evolution

The theory of damage describes the evolution of the phenomena between the pristine state (of damage) and
the initiation of the macroscopic crack. The model of static damage consists to determine the evolution of
the stress which variations are mainly due to damage [7]. So, we quantities the damage by the variable D
expressed by equation (1):
1 (1)
=
1

With:
u : the ultimate stress in the undamaged original condition;
a : the stress just before the rupture;
ur : residual ultimate stress for different crack lengths;
We indicate by i the life fraction such as i = 2ai/ W, with W is the width of the specimen useful
portion.
The figure 6 schematize the damage process, the damage accelerates toward the end of the material life
and rupture will take place at D = 1. The damage presents two aspects according to Rabbe, namely the
physical aspect which is related to the mechanical of cracking and descriptive aspect necessary to evaluate
for its use in industry. On the one hand, the damage physical aspect corresponds to the variations of
material physical properties. These variations reflect the consecutive structural modifications under the
action of solicitations and dependent directly on the propagation of cracks. On the other side, the
descriptive aspect of the damage notion consists in the quantitative representation of the materials
endurance subject to "stories of stresses" more or less varied. The damage increase means the loss of
resistance in static tensile strength of copper specimen; the resistance loss develops when the length notch
becomes more important. This is damage with appreciable permanent deformation which reduces the
ultimate strength of the material.
The measure of ultimate residual stresses allows following the damage phenomenon between the virgin
state and the complete failure of the specimen. When:
i = 0 ur = u D = 0
i = 0,96 ur = a D = 1

Figure 6 Evolution of the damage depending on the life fraction

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 B. Saadouki, J. Nattaj and M. Elghorba

The representative curve of Cu-Co-P damage is located just below that of Cu-Ni-Si, for the same life
fraction, Cu-Ni-Si damage values are slightly higher than those of Cu-Co-P.

3.3. Damage and Reliability

The damage can be described by another parameter with statistical nature, allowing to follow the evolution
of the material deterioration, it is the reliability R, which represents the material survival probability. The
reliability varies in the opposite direction of the damage. Intuitively, there must be a natural relationship
between these two parameters; this allows us to write the equation (2):
+ =1 (2)

The variation of the damage and the reliability is shown in Figure 7; the increase in damage is
necessarily accompanied by the decrease of the reliability, the superposition of these two parameters
allows distinguish between the three stages of damage.

(a) (b)
Figure 7 superposition of damage-reliability curves for the two cuprous
(a) Cu-Ni-Si (b) Cu-Co-P
In the beginning, we have the initiation damage area. At 50% of reliability, the specimens begin to lose
internal resistance and copper begins to degrade, we can say that at this level we have the propagation of
damage; it is the progressive damage area. In 90% of the damage (10% reliability) specimens walk into the
fast break zone, which corresponds to a critical length of notch ( 2ac = 10,12 for the Cu-Ni-Si and 10,62
for the Cu-Co-P).
The advantage of determining the relationship between the damage and the reliability lies in the fact it
allows, in particular, to know the length notch where the damage becomes critical. Indeed, this information
is crucial for preventive maintenance, in order to intervene at the appropriate time to change the damaged
part.

4. CONCLUSIONS
In this study, the tensile behavior of the Cu-Ni-Si and Cu-Co-P was highlighted; several properties were
able to be released:
The Cu-Ni-Si shows better mechanical strength compared to Cu-Co-P.
The disturbance of the specimen shape by the realization of the notch causes a discontinuity in the material
and a new stress distribution compared to that of a virgin specimen.
The presence of the notch generates a stress concentration, and the ultimate stress varies depending on the
length of notch.

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 Behavior to Damage of Two Hardening Precipitation Copper Alloys: Experimental Characterization and
Numerical Study

The evolution of the damage starts with an introductory stage for small lengths notch followed by damage
propagation to important notch and finally a brutal damage leads to the rupture.

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