AN IMPROVEMENT OF THE RESISTANCE TO STRESS-CORROSION CRACKING OF DRAWN COPPER WIRE

This work intends to develop a new copper wire which resists stress-co rrosion cracking (SCC). The improved copper wire has a composite struc ture made of two materials, and by recrystallizing only the surface la yer, the surface tensile stress is reduced by keeping the properties e qual to a drawn copper wire. The resistance to SCC of the improved cop per wire is evaluated by bending and pulling tests in the accelerated solution. The mean times until the occurrence of SCC on the improved c opper wire advance from 2 to 9 times as long as those of drawn copper wire.