β‘ Phase Precipitation in a Cold Rolled Cu-Zn Alloy under Electric Current Pulses

β' phase precipitation in a cold rolled Cu-Zn alloy under high density electric current pulses was studied in the present work. The results showed that the precipitation of β' phase was controlled by the angle between the current direction and rolling direction. When the angle was 45º, the application of electric current could refine α phase without β' phase precipitation, while at 0º or 90º, β' phase precipitated from α phase boundaries and distributed along the rolled direction. It was proposed that the precipitation of β' phase during the application of high density electric current was determined by the electron wind force and anisotropic electrical resistivity of the grain boundaries.