Conductive Al Alloys: The Contradiction between Strength and Electrical Conductivity

Abstract

In recent years, the severe energy consumption identified in the global powertransmission process makes the development of new generation of transmission materials with high strength (mainly the ultimate tensile strength) and outstanding electrical conductivity (EC) more urgent. Though Al and its alloys received significant attention from the scientific community in the past two decades due to their relatively high mechanical properties and excellent EC, increasing strength and EC are often incompatible in Al conductor alloys, which remains unresolved. Therefore, the ways to achieve the optimal compromise between the strength and EC has become a hot topic in current researches. This review focuses on the high-strength conductive Al alloys that have been studied by researchers in the past two decades, and endeavors to reveal the relationship between the EC and the strength based on composition, microstructure, interface, and others. Moreover, the design ideas and treatment measures considering both conductivity and strength are also summarized.

A Molecular Dynamics Simulation to Shed Light on the Mechanical Alloying of an Al-Zr Alloy Induced by Severe Plastic Deformation

“…Such popular Al-based systems as Al-Mg-Si (6xxx series alloys) have been developed to gain additional strengthening due to precipitation of fine second phase particles [1]. Application of additional deformation and thermal treatments of Al alloys to this and other systems makes it possible to achieve an affordable trade-off between density, strength and electrical conductivity, and such alloys have found important applications as a substitution for more expensive, less widespread, and higher density Cu-based alloys [2]. Moreover, the modern approaches for microstructural design by tuning fine-scale features, especially for complex structures [3][4][5], have provided an extra-space to further enhance both the mechanical and electrical properties of Al alloys [6].…”

Effect of Precipitates on the Mechanical Performance of 7005 Aluminum Alloy Plates

“…The yield and tensile strengths of the alloy plates increase from 168 and 255 MPa to 171 and 263 MPa, respectively, and the elongation of the plates increased from 19% to a peak of 23% upon increasing the aging time at 120 °C from 1 h to 4 h. Upon increasing the aging time continuously to 192 h, the yield and tensile strengths of the alloy plates reach a maximum of 340 MPa and 382 MPa, respectively, and the corresponding elongation reduced to a minimum of 14%. The 7005 alloy plates exhibit an anomalous phenomena in that the strength and elongation simultaneously increase when the aging time is less than 4 h. This was not consistent with other research results obtained by most current scholars [ 20 , 21 ] that showed aluminum alloy elongation decreasing while its strength increased with increased aging time.…”

Potency of Severe Plastic Deformation Processes for Optimizing Combinations of Strength and Electrical Conductivity of Lightweight Al-Based Conductor Alloys

“…Besides, in applications where low weight is required, there is a need for low weight conductors pushing the development of aluminium-based materials. 1) Materials with a high specific strength combined with a low electrical resistivity are of interest both for transportation industries and for power transmission lines. For example, modern cars can contain up to 5 km of wiring comprising a significant weight, so that developing advanced Al-based conductors can assist reducing the weight and cost of automobiles together with lowering environmental impact and improving fuel efficiency.…”