Investigation of the Dendritic Structure Influence on the Electrical and Mechanical Properties Diversification of the Continuously Casted Copper Strand

The properties of copper in its solid state are strongly affected by the crystallization conditions of the liquid material. ETP grade copper (Electrolytic Tough Pitch Copper) contains oxygen, which causes Cu(2)O oxide to crystallize in the interdendritic spaces during solidification process which due to the shape of continuous casting mould and the feed of liquid copper during the crystallization process in strand casting might cause a high risk of macrosegregation of oxygen in the copper structure. In the current paper the implied interactions of the dendritic structure of the copper strand in terms of homogeneity at the cross-section of its electrical, mechanical and plastic properties determined based on the samples taken parallelly and perpendicularly to the surface of the dendritic boundaries were analysed. The obtained results were confronted with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of the fractures formed during uniaxial tensile test. It has been observed that when the crystallites were arranged perpendicularly to the tensile direction the yield strength (YS) was lower and the fractures were brittle. On the other hand, when the crystallites were arranged parallelly to the tensile direction the fractures were plastic and elongated necking was observed along with the higher YS and total elongation values. The differences in values vary in terms of the applied direction of the tensile force. A characteristic positioning of the Cu(2)O oxide particles inside the fracture depending on the crystallite alignment and the direction of the applied tensile force has been observed.