Copper/high-nitrogen stainless steel macrocomposites

Compared with conventional stainless steels the high-nitrogen steels show a higher initial strength after solution heat treatment and generally also a higher work hardening rate.

The Cu/steel composites are fabricated by the 'rod-in-tube' technology using tubes of two commercial steels on the base of Fe-Cr-Ni (alloy 3033) and Fe-Cr-Mn (alloy P900). The figure shows the development of the ultimate tensile strength of the composites with drawing strain. The strength level of about 1.2 GPa is 0.2-0.25 GPa higher than that achieved in composites with conventional stainless steels.