JPH04259360A - Manufacture of copper alloy wire - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To simply manufacture a copper allay wire without executing soln. treatment by subjecting the continuously cast slab of a Cu alloy contg. specified amounts of Zr and Mg to hot rolling into a rough drawing wire, subjecting it to aging treatment under specified conditions and thereafter executing cold wire drawing. CONSTITUTION:The molten metal of a Cu alloy contg., by weight, <0.3% Zr and <0.3% Mg is fed to a continuous casting apparatus and is subjected to continuous casting under the condition of >=150mm/min solidifying rate. This continuously cast slab of the copper allay is heated to <=37O deg.C and is hot-rolled into a rough drawing wire, which is thereafter subjected to aging treatment at 370 to 480 deg.C and is successively subjected to cold wire drawing to manufacture a copper allay wire excellent in strength. This copper alloy wire is manufactured by reduced stages at low cost without requiring soln. treatment on the way of the process.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing copper alloy wire, and more particularly to an improvement in the process for increasing the strength of copper alloy wire.

0002

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there have been the following methods for manufacturing copper alloy wires, particularly high-strength, high-conductivity copper alloy wires used in various electrical appliances. First, a copper alloy is statically cast, the obtained ingot is hot rolled, and the obtained rough wire is further subjected to solution treatment. Then, after performing a tempering treatment, cold wire drawing is performed. The solution treatment is carried out for the purpose of completely bringing zirconium in the copper alloy component into a solid solution state so that sufficient strength can be obtained by the subsequent tempering treatment. Specifically, the rough drawing line after hot rolling is 10
The material is heated at a temperature of 00° C. or higher for at least 1 hour, and then water quenched. The tempering treatment is performed for the purpose of increasing strength through age hardening and recovering electrical conductivity. Furthermore, the cold wire drawing treatment is performed for the purpose of further increasing the strength in addition to adjusting dimensions for thinning the wire.

0003

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] The solution treatment performed in the conventional method for manufacturing copper alloy wire involves reheating the material as described above and then cooling it with water, but this operation requires a large number of steps. However, there was a problem in that the heat loss was also large. Furthermore, special equipment was required for this solution treatment. As described above, in the conventional method for manufacturing a copper alloy wire, since solution treatment was included in the manufacturing process, there were problems in that the number of manufacturing steps was large and the contents of the steps were complicated. Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a method for manufacturing a copper alloy wire that does not involve solution treatment in order to reduce the number of manufacturing steps and reduce manufacturing costs.

0004

[Means for Solving the Problems] The method for manufacturing a copper alloy wire of the present invention provides a method for producing a copper alloy wire containing 0.3% by weight or less of zirconium and 0.3% by weight or less of magnesium, with the remainder being copper. In the manufacturing method, after continuous casting of copper alloy, the ingot obtained by continuous casting is hot rolled, the rough drawn wire obtained by hot rolling is aged, and then further cold drawn. This is what I did. Note that the continuous casting is preferably performed at a solidification rate of 150 mm/min or more. Further, it is preferable that the hot rolling is performed under the condition that the ingot is preheated at a temperature of 370° C. or lower. Furthermore, the aging treatment is preferably performed at a treatment temperature of 370 to 480°C.

[0005]

[Operation] In the method for producing a copper alloy wire of the present invention, zirconium, which is an age hardening element, is forced into solid solution by continuous casting. This causes hardening similar to solution treatment, and as a result, sufficient strength can be obtained without solution treatment. Solidification speed is important in this continuous casting, and the solidification rate is at least 150 mm/min.
It is desirable that it be above. Solidification speed is 150mm/mi
If it is smaller than n, the amount of forced solid solution of zirconium that contributes to age hardening decreases, and the forced solid solution becomes insufficient, making it impossible to obtain the required strength in the subsequent aging treatment (tempering). Furthermore, if the preheating temperature of the ingot during hot rolling exceeds 730° C., part of the zirconium that was forcibly dissolved during continuous casting will precipitate, and the substantial amount of zirconium that contributes to age hardening will decrease.

[0006] Conventionally, this type of ternary copper alloy (Cu-Z
r-Mg) ingots were usually manufactured by pouring molten copper into a boat-shaped mold, but continuous casting of this type of alloy resulted in poor casting surface, which caused defects in subsequent processing. It became. However, by improving the mold material and lubricant material during continuous casting, it is possible to produce an ingot with a smooth and healthy casting surface.

[0007]

[Examples] Examples of the present invention will be described in detail below. Example 1 0.16% by weight of zirconium, 0.1% of magnesium
% by weight, and the balance is copper by induction melting,
After being maintained at 1250°C, continuous casting was performed to a size of 140 mm in diameter, and the obtained ingot was hot rolled at 800°C to a diameter of 8 m.
A rough line of m was obtained. This roughly drawn wire was heat treated at about 450° C. for 1 hour and then cold drawn to produce a copper alloy wire with a diameter of 0.2 mm. On the other hand, for comparison, a copper alloy having the same composition as in Example 1 was melted and statically cast using a boat-shaped mold with the same diameter and cross-sectional area as above.
Hot rolling was carried out at 0° C. to obtain a rough drawn wire with a diameter of 8 mm. next,
This rough drawn wire was heated at 1020° C. for 1 hour and then subjected to solution treatment. Then, it was heat treated at 450° C. for 1 hour, and then hot drawn to obtain a copper alloy wire with a diameter of 0.2 mm.

Table 1 shows the casting conditions during production of the copper alloy wires of Examples and Comparative Examples, and the tensile performance and electrical conductivity of the copper alloy wires obtained. As can be seen from Table 1, the copper alloy wire of this example has the same characteristics as the copper alloy wire of the comparative example, and in particular, the solidification rate in continuous casting is 150 mm/min.
If it is above, more preferable characteristics can be obtained.

[0009]

Example 2 In Example 1, continuous casting material (solidification rate 200mm/
The preheating temperature of the ingot during hot rolling is 800℃.
The temperature was gradually lowered from 650°C to a minimum of 650°C. The size of the rough drawn wire, the heat treatment temperature for tempering, and the wire drawing size are all the same as in Example 1. Table 2 shows the characteristics of the copper alloy wire in this case.

As can be seen from Table 2, the lower the preheating temperature of the ingot before hot rolling, the higher the hardness of the rough drawn wire during aging heat treatment, and the higher the strength of the copper alloy wire after wire drawing.

[0012] In each of the above embodiments, continuous casting and hot rolling are separate processes, but both processes are integrated into one process.
As a modification, it is also possible to perform so-called continuous casting and rolling. Examples of continuous casting and rolling include the SCR method (wheel/belt) and the hesle method (belt/belt). In the conventional manufacturing method, when preheating the ingot during hot rolling, there was a risk that zirconium, which was forced into a solid solution during casting, would precipitate, especially when the temperature was raised.However, in the case of continuous casting and rolling, the zirconium By utilizing the residual heat, the temperature raising process becomes unnecessary, so the precipitation of zirconium as described above can be suppressed to a minimum.

[0013]

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, the method for producing a copper alloy wire of the present invention can produce a copper alloy wire without solution treatment, and therefore the number of steps required for production can be reduced. At the same time, the thermal energy required for solution treatment can be saved. As a result, the manufacturing cost of the copper alloy wire can be reduced, and due to the reduction in the number of steps, variations in the quality of the copper alloy wire can also be reduced.

Claims (4)

[Claims] Claim 1: A method for producing a copper alloy wire containing 0.3% by weight or less of zirconium and 0.3% by weight or less of magnesium, the remainder being copper, comprising: a step of continuously casting a copper alloy; It is characterized by comprising the steps of hot rolling the obtained ingot, aging the rough drawn wire obtained by hot rolling, and cold drawing the rough drawn wire after the aging treatment. Method for manufacturing copper alloy wire. 2. The continuous casting has a solidification speed of 150 m.
The method for manufacturing a copper alloy wire according to claim 1, wherein the manufacturing method is performed under conditions of at least m/min. 3. In the hot rolling, the ingot is preheated at a temperature of 3.
The method for producing a copper alloy wire according to claim 1, wherein the method is carried out at a temperature of 70°C or lower. 4. The aging treatment is performed at a treatment temperature of 370 to 370°C.
The method for producing a copper alloy wire according to claim 1, wherein the method is carried out at 480°C.