Claims
- 1. A copper alloy consisting essentially of:
- from 0.05 to 0.10 weight percent phosphorous;
- from 0.05 to 0.30 weight percent iron; and
- the balance copper and unavoidable impurities wherein said copper alloy further contains magnesium in solid solution with said copper in an amount effective to improve resistance to stress relaxation at elevated temperatures, a free magnesium content, Y, being equal to Y=Mg--X where X is the amount of phosphorous available to combine with magnesium and X=1.18(P--Fe/3.6) and with X being equal to or greater than zero and Y being greater than 0.06.
- 2. The copper alloy of claim 1, wherein Y is greater than 0.07.
- 3. The copper alloy of claim 1, wherein a total magnesium content is less than 0.25 weight percent.
- 4. The copper alloy of claim 3, wherein said total magnesium content is between 0.1 and 0.25 weight percent.
- 5. The copper alloy of claim 4, I wherein the total magnesium content is between 0.1 and 0.15 weight percent.
- 6. The copper alloy of claim 4, wherein up to 50% of the iron is substituted with another transition element on a 1:1 replacement basis, by weight.
- 7. The copper alloy of claim 6, wherein said another transition element is selected from the group consisting of manganese, cobalt, nickel and alloys of manganese, cobalt and nickle.
- 8. The copper alloy of claim 7, formed into a sheet by passing through a rolling mill, said sheet having a longitudinal axis that is parallel to a rolling direction and a transverse axis.
- 9. An electrical cobbrctor component formed from said sheet of claim 8.
- 10. The electrical connector component of claim 9, having an orientation transverse to said rolling direction.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This patent application is a continuation in part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/898,053 entitled "Copper Alloy Having Improved Stress Relaxation" by William L. Brenneman that filed on Jul. 22, 1997 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,868,877 and is further related to commonly owned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/898,694 entitled "Copper Alloy with Magnesium Addition" William L. Brenneman et al. also filed on Jul. 22, 1997. Both patent application are incorporated by reference herein.
US Referenced Citations (6)
Foreign Referenced Citations (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
58-199835 |
Nov 1983 |
JPX |
Non-Patent Literature Citations (2)
Entry |
Metals Handbook.RTM.Ninth Edition, vol. 14, "Forming and Forging" (Dec. 1989) p. 447. |
ASM Handbook.RTM.Formerly Tenth Edition, vol. 2, "Properties and Selection: Nonferrous Alloys and Special-Purpose Materials" (Jan. 1992) pp. 260-263 and p. 295. |
Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
898053 |
Jul 1997 |
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