As a promising material for high-speed railway contact wires, CuCrZr alloy has been extensively researched over the past decade. However, in CuCrZr alloy, the interaction between twinning and precipitate which are crucial for achieving an excellent combination of mechanical and electrical properties, has not received sufficient attention. In this study, we utilized equal-channel angular pressing (ECAP), cryogenic rolling, and aging treatment to prepare nanolayered CuCrZr alloys with average layer thicknesses of 60 nm and 90 nm, respectively. We found that for the unaged CuCrZr alloy, low temperature (77 K) significantly increased its tensile strength (from 693 MPa to 972 MPa) while slightly decreasing its elongation (from 14.51% to 12.53%). Interestingly, for the aged materials, the effects of low temperature were quite different: it marginally increased the strength and significantly improved the ductility. The tensile strength of the aged alloy increased from 721 MPa to 853 MPa, and its elongation increased from 12.59% to 20.61%. Microstructural characterization revealed the presence of newly formed twins originating from precipitates during low-temperature tensile deformation in the aged materials, demonstrating the existence of twin-induced plasticity facilitated by precipitation particles. Our findings offers new insights into further research on the deformation and strengthening mechanisms of CuCrZr alloys.

CuCrZr,Precipitate-induced twinning,Nanotwins,Twin-induced plasticity,equal channel angular pressing (ECAP);,cryogenic rolling