Influence of Rare Earth Elements on Mechanical Properties and Corrosion Resistance of Cu-15Ni Alloy

In order to improve the mechanical property and Cl-+S2-corrosion resistance of B15 copper-nickel alloy,Cu-15Ni-xRE(x:0-0.1%by weight)alloy was prepared by adding rare earth(RE)in melted Cu-15Ni alloy using metal mould casting method.Optical microscopy(OM),electronic tensile testing machine,X-ray diffraction(XRD),scanning electron microscope(SEM),and electrochemical testing system were used to analyze mechanical property,corrosion resistance property,and surface microstructure of different treatment samples.The results of OM and tensile testing show that the RE addition can effectively deoxidize the alloy melt and the microstructure of the alloy changes from coarse dendrite to small equiaxed grain.By addition of 0.05%RE,the tensile strength and elongation of Cu-15Ni alloys are improved from 294 MPa to 340MPa,and 8%to 33.5%respectively.The results of electrochemical testing show that the corrosion resistance of Cu-15Ni alloy is greatly improved by adding proper amount of RE,whereas excess addition of RE worsens the corrosion resistance.The optimum RE content was about 0.05%by weight.In comparison with the alloy without RE,the corrosion potential and corrosion current density of Cu-15Ni alloy containing proper RE decreased by about-0.28 V and 70A/cm2,respectively.