Dilute copper alloy material and method of manufacturing dilute copper alloy member excellent in characteristics of resistance to hydrogen embrittlement

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9805836-B2
Application number	US-201113317461-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 19, 2011
Priority date	Oct 20, 2010
Publication date	Oct 31, 2017
Grant date	Oct 31, 2017

Abstract

A dilute copper alloy material used in an environment with presence of hydrogen includes pure copper including an inevitable impurity, more than 2 mass ppm of oxygen, and an additive element selected from the group consisting of Mg, Zr, Nb, Ca, V, Fe, Al, Si, Ni, Mn, Ti and Cr, the additive element being capable of forming an oxide in combination with the oxygen. A method of manufacturing a dilute copper alloy member excellent in characteristics of resistance to hydrogen embrittlement includes melting the dilute copper alloy material by SCR continuous casting and rolling at a copper melting temperature of not less than 1100° C. and not more than 1320° C. to make molten metal, forming a cast bar from the molten metal, and forming the dilute copper alloy member by hot-rolling the cast bar.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A dilute copper alloy material consisting essentially of:
3 mass ppm to 12 mass ppm of S (sulfur), more than 10 mass ppm but no more than 30 mass ppm of O (oxygen), 10 mass ppm to 37 mass ppm of Ti (titanium), and balance being Cu (copper),
wherein a semi-softening temperature of the dilute copper alloy material is not higher than 148° C.,
wherein the Ti in a form of TiO, TiO 2 , TiS, and Ti—O—S is included in a crystal grain or at a crystal grain boundary of the copper,
wherein the dilute copper alloy material is adapted to be used in an environment with presence of hydrogen,
wherein TiO is not more than 200 nm in size, TiO 2 is not more than 1000 nm in size, TiS is not more than 200 nm in size, and a compound in a form of Ti—O—S is not more than 300 nm in size,
wherein the dilute copper alloy material is produced by casting at a copper melting temperature of not less than 1100° C. and not more than 1320° C. to make a molten metal and a hot rolling process at a temperature of not more than 880° C. at an initial roll and not less than 550° C. at a final roll, and
wherein a conductivity of the dilute copper alloy material is at least 102% IACS (International Annealed Copper Standard).

2. The dilute copper alloy material according to claim 1 , wherein, in the dilute copper alloy material, a ratio of a content of titanium to a content of oxygen is 0.5 or more and less than 7.

3. The dilute copper alloy material according to claim 1 , wherein a content of Ti is not more than 25 mass ppm.

4. The dilute copper alloy material according to claim 1 , wherein S and Ti are included in the dilute copper alloy material in the form of TiO, TiO 2 , TiS, and Ti—O—S, and a remaining of Ti and S are incorporated in the dilute copper alloy material as a solid solution.

5. The dilute copper alloy material according to claim 1 , wherein said TiO, TiO 2 , TiS, and Ti—O—S are incorporated as dispersed particles in the dilute copper alloy material such that at least 90% of the dispersed particles have a diameter of 500 nm or less.

6. The dilute copper alloy material according to claim 1 , wherein a content of Ti is in a range of 10 mass ppm to 13 mass ppm.

7. The dilute copper alloy material according to claim 1 , wherein, in the dilute copper alloy material, Ti and O are bound as one of TiO and TiO 2 such that oxygen is devoid of reacting with hydrogen when hydrogen is diffused into said one of TiO and TiO 2 .

8. The dilute copper alloy material according to claim 1 , wherein a content of the S is in a range from 5 mass ppm to 12 mass ppm.

9. The dilute copper alloy material according to claim 1 , wherein an amount of the oxygen included in the dilute copper alloy material is greater than an amount of oxygen in an oxygen-free copper.

10. The dilute copper alloy material according to claim 1 , wherein the hot rolling process comprises hot rolling a cast bar from the molten metal.

11. The dilute copper alloy material according to claim 1 , wherein the casting comprises a South Continuous Rod (SCR) casting and tolling system.

12. The dilute copper alloy material according to claim 1 , wherein S and Ti are included in the dilute copper alloy material in the form of TiO, TiO 2 , TiS, and Ti—O—S.

Assignees

• Kuroda Hiromitsu
• Sumi Toru
• Sagawa Hideyuki
• Aoyama Seigi
• Hitachi Metals Ltd

Inventors

• Kuroda Hiromitsu
• Sumi Toru
• Sagawa Hideyuki
• Aoyama Seigi

Classifications

• H01B1/026 Primary

  Alloys based on copper · CPC title

• B22D11/004

  Copper alloys · CPC title

• C22C9/00

  Alloys based on copper · CPC title