EGR270-Materials Science Laboratory
Cold Working and Annealing of Copper, Pre-lab Topics
Group A, Topics that should be covered in the pre-lab:
What is cold working and in what ways does it affect mechanical properties?
What are other terms for “cold working”? (ANS: cold rolling, cold drawing, and cold finishing
are, and nearly synonymous: work hardening and strain hardening).
Why does cold working have these effects? (What changes in the material?)
What do you expect to happen to hardness as the amount of cold working increases? Do you
expect there to be a limit to this effect?
What does the term “annealing” mean? Regarding cold rolled copper, what does annealing
mean? (HINT: remember “recovery, recrystallization, grain growth”?)
What effect does annealing have on mechanical properties of cold worked copper?
Why does annealing have these effects? (What changes in the material?)
Do you expect there to be a limit to this effect? Why/why not.
What effect does temperature have on annealing time?
What effect does amount of cold working have on annealing time and/or temperature?
Other things for Group A:
After class next week, meet with me to discuss what you have learned. We will discuss this as
well as discuss the lab to be conducted the next week.
After next week’s meeting but before the lab in two weeks, you will prepare a MS Project
presentation to give to class to educate them on cold working and annealing.