Effect of Rolling Deformation Amount on Microstructure and AntibacterialProperties of Silver-Containing Copper Alloy

Copper alloy with 0.11wt% silver was rolled at room temperature and the effect of rolling deformation amount (30%, 50%, 70%) on its structure and antimicrobial properties was studied. The results show that the grain size of the silver-containing copper alloy decreased with increasing rolling deformation. With rolling deformation amount of 70%, the average grain size decreased from 143 μm without rolling to 1.4 μm, and the deformation twins were reduted to almost vanishing. The nano-silver particles existed in silver-containing copper alloys and segregated in areas with high defect density such as dislocation wall and dislocation entanglement at grain boundaries, and after rolling nano-silver particles distributed uniformly. Rolling could improve the antimicrobial properties of silver-containing copper alloy, and the larger the deformation amount, the better the antimicrobial properties. The antimicrobial rate of the silver-containing copper alloy after rolling with 70% deformation amount in contact with Escherichia coli suspension for 6 h exceeded 99.9%, and the antimicrobial effect could last more than 12 h, which was related to the fact that increasing the rolling deformation amount could increase the number of defects and the density of grain boundaries in the alloy, and promote the dispersion distribution of nano-silver particles.