Electromechanical responses of Cu strips

Electrical-thermal-mechanical behavior of materials plays an important role in controlling the structural integrity of electromechanical structures of small volumes. The electromechanical response of Cu strips was studied by passing an electric current through the strips with electric current densities in the range of 12.34 to 29.60 kA/cm². The passage of the electric current of high current densities introduced electrical-thermal-mechanical interactions, which caused grain growth and grain rotation in both the melted region and heat-affected zone. The electrothermal interactions led to the elastoplastic buckling of the Cu strips with the maximum deflection of the Cu strips increasing with the increase of the electric current density. The total strain is a quadratic function of the electric current density. There was a quasi-steady state in which the electric resistance of the Cu strips linearly increased with time before the occurrence of electric fusing. A power-law relation was used to describe the dependence of the time-to-failure (electric fusing) on the electric current density. For the region of relatively low current densities, the current exponent ranged from 17.9 to 44.6, and for the region of high current densities, the current exponent ranged from 2.5 to 5.2. The current exponent for relatively low current densities decreased with increasing the length of Cu strips, showing size-dependence. Finite element analyses were performed to analyze the current-induced deflection of a Cu strip. The simulation results showed that the maximum deflection for the electric current density larger than or equal to 5 kA/cm² is a linear function of the current density in agreement with the experimental observation. © 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.