Effects of Post Heat Treatment on the Mechanical Properties of Cold-Rolled Ti/Cu Clad Sheet

Titanium and titanium alloys have excellent corrosion and heat resistance, but weak electric and thermal conductivity. The weak conductivity of titanium can be overcome by cladding with copper, which has high conductivity. Although titanium is expensive, it is selected as a material suitable for applications requiring corrosion resistance such as in heat exchangers. This study was to investigate the effect of post heat treatment on the mechanical properties of the Ti/Cu cold-rolled clad plate by using the interfacial diffusion bonding. A titanium clad by cold rolling should be heat-treated after the rolling process to improve the bonding properties through the diffusion of metals and removal of residual stress due to work hardening, despite the easy formation of intermetallic compounds of Ti and Cu. As a result post-treatment, the elongation was improved by more than two times from 21% to max. 53% by the Ti-Cu interface diffusion phenomenon and the average tensile strength of the 450 °C heat-treated specimens was 353 MPa. By securing high elongation while maintaining excellent tensile and yield strength through post-treatment, the formability of Ti-Cu clad plate can be greatly improved.