Interface Characterization and Performances of a Novel Pure Al Clad Al Alloy Wire

Abstract

Based on the principle of skin effect, a pure Al clad Al alloy wire is designed to break the mutually exclusive relation between strength and electrical conductivity. Actually, bimetallic composite wires offer the ability to blend the desired properties of various metals into a single wire, for example, combining the high-conductivity of pure Al (outer layer) and the high-strength of Al alloy (core). Thus, a novel method is adopted to prepare a pure Al clad Al alloy wire (ACAW) and the metallurgical bonding between pure Al and Al alloy is achieved by compressing the Al alloy cylinder into a hollow pure Al cylinder followed by a series of processes including forging, rolling, and colddrawing. A perfect interface is obtained as the fine grains are found across the interface. Furthermore, a linear rule of mixtures is applied to calculate the performance of ACAW as compared with the measured performance of ACAW. The measured strength of ACAW is the same as the calculated strength. Interestingly, the measured electrical conductivity of ACAW (58.17% IACS) is higher than the calculated electrical conductivity (57.60%IACS). Consequently, ACAW is an effective approach for combining the high-conductivity of pure Al and the high-strength of Al alloy.