Effect of Grain Boundary Resistivity on Solid State Phase Transformation Induced by Electric Current Pulse in a Cold-Rolled Cu–Zn Alloy

To clear the effect of grain boundary resistivity on solid state phase transformation, an electrical current pulse (ECP) was applied to a 40% cold-rolled Cu–Zn alloy, and the angle between the exerted current direction (CD) and rolling direction (RD) varied from 0 to 90°. Results showed that with the change of angle, the average grain sizes of ECP treated samples were varied. Through the thermodynamic analysis, it was known that the different diffusion activation energy induced by different grain boundary resistivity was attributed to the evolution of microstructure.