Abstract
The effects of conventional rolling (CR) and differential speed rolling (DSR) on the microstructure and mechanical properties of a copper alloy sheet were investigated in detail. A copper alloy with thickness of 3 mm was rolled to a 50% reduction at ambient temperature without lubrication with a differential speed ratio of 2:1; sample was then annealed for 0.5h at various temperatures from 100 to $800^{\circ}C$. Conventional rolling, in which the rolling speed of the upper and lower rolls is identical, was performed under the same rolling conditions. The shear strain introduced by the CR showed positive values at positions on the upper roll side and negative values at positions on the lower roll side. However, the shear strain showed a zero or positive value at all positions for the samples rolled by the DSR. The microstrucure and mechanical properties of the as-rolled copper alloy did not show very significant differences between the CR and DSR for the microstructure and mechanical properties. However, those properties showed very significant differences in the case of the annealed samples. The effects of rolling method on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the as-rolled and subsequently annealed materials are discussed in terms of the shear strain.
