The Effect of Aging Treatment on the Properties of Cold-Rolled Cu-Ni-Si-Co Alloys with Different Mg Contents

Cu-Ni-Si is a prominent example of a high-end lead frame copper alloy. The enhancement of strength without compromising electrical conductivity has emerged as a prominent research focus. The evolution of the precipitates exerts a significant influence on the strength and electrical conductivity of Cu-Ni-Si-Co-Mg alloys. In this paper, the effects of aging treatment and Mg addition on the properties and precipitates of cold-rolled Cu-Ni-Si-Co alloys were studied. The precipitate was (Ni, Co)2Si and was in a strip shape. During aging, precipitation and coarsening of the (Ni, Co)2Si precipitates were observed. In the early stage of aging, a significant number of fine (Ni, Co)2Si precipitates were formed. These fine precipitates could not only have a better effect of precipitation strengthening, but also impeded the dislocation movement, thus increasing the dislocation density and improving the dislocation strengthening effect. However, the coarsening of the precipitates became dominant with increasing aging times. Therefore, the strengthening effect was weakened. The addition of 0.12% Mg promoted finer and more diffuse precipitates, which not only improving the tensile strength by 100–200 MPa, but also exhibiting a smaller effect on the electrical conductivity. However, further increases in Mg contents resulted in a significant decrease in electrical conductivity, with little change in the tensile strength. The optimum amount of added Mg was 0.12%, and the aging parameters were 300 °C and 20 min.