Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for producing an eutectic copper-iron alloy in which an intermetallic compound of Cu and Fe (hereinafter, referred to as a “Cu/Fe intermetallic compound”) is dispersed in a Cu matrix containing Cu as its main constituent, and more particularly, a method for producing a CFA (Cu—Fe Alloy) which is a copper-iron new ceramic. The present application claims priority based on the Japanese Patent Application No. 2013-235214 filed on Nov. 13, 2013 in Japan, which is incorporated by reference herein.
Description of Related Art
In recent years, for example, like thin plates typified by lead frame materials for ICs and LSIs, low-cost electronic materials with high strength and high electrical conductivity have been requested in various fields, and copper-iron alloys have been attracting attention as materials that meet such requests. Copper and iron are metals that form no solid solution with each other, only finely dispersed individually due to segregation and the like during melting when the copper and the iron are produced by a conventional method through melting and solidification, and considered to have trouble with hot workability. However, in recent years, melting and rapid cooling methods that are similar to methods for producing stainless steel have been developed, which make it possible to produce thin plate-like copper-iron alloys.
As such a method for producing a copper-iron alloy, Patent Literature 1 discloses a method for producing an eutectic copper-iron alloy, in which Fe is input into a furnace, the Fe is charged with Cu on completely melting Fe, a crystallization reaction is developed, and the molten reaction product is transferred into an ingot case. The ingot obtained by the production method has crystal fragments of a Cu/Fe intermetallic compound distributed homogeneously in a matrix containing Cu as its main constituent, and serve as various industrial materials through plastic working such as extruding, rolling, and drawing. These composite materials have crystal fragments of a Cu/Fe intermetallic compound as a high-permeability body, which are dispersed in a Cu matrix, and thus have great properties as a shield material against electromagnetic waves.    Patent document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1994-017163