Development of Aluminum Alloy Conductor with High Electrical Conductivity and Controlled Tensile Strength and Elongation

Toshiyuki Horikoshi* Hiromitsu Kuroda* Michiaki Shimizu** Seigi Aoyama*

ABSTRACT: In recent years, lightweight aluminum alloy conductor with high electrical conductivity characteristics is expected. Al-Fe-Zr alloy wire was developed industrially, although without having the tensile strength and elongation and spoiling electrical conductivity characteristics. The developed Aluminum alloy is expected to be applied in various fields such as the automotive and electric wire for equipment.

[1] INTRODUCTION

In recent years the automobile and electronics industries have developed remarkably, and the demand for electric conductive materials used for these applications is increasing compared to the past. Conventionally, aluminum alloy has been applied mainly to the overhead conductor field taking advantage of density of 1/3 and high conductivity of 2/3 in electrical conductivity compared with copper. From the viewpoint of effective use of energy, the lightweight aluminum alloy conductor is very effective, and possible advantages can also be expected in the automotive and electronics industry. In order to use aluminum alloy electrical conductive material for industrial applications, we think that it is indispensable to develop an alloy that responds also to recent social structural changes, such as environmental issues and material requirements for recycling. The present study introduces our recently developed aluminum alloy conductor with improved balance between tensile strength and elongation properties that were demerits of the conventional Aluminum alloy while maintaining, at the same time, high conductivity properties.
[2] DEVELOPMENT CONCEPT
2.1 The target properties of an aluminum alloy wire

65

Sb Sn, Cd Ni Zn, B Fe Ag

Electrical conductivity (% IACS)

60

Cu Si Mg

Zr

55 Ti Li Mo Cr 50 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 Ratio of an addition element (mass%) Mn

2.2 Examination of metal additions

In annealed pure Aluminum, the electrical conductivity is about 64%IACS (International Annealed Copper Standard), tensile strength reaches 100 MPa and elongation reaches about 20%.These properties conform to industrial use by annealing. From an industrial point of view, for this type of aluminum wire, electrical properties are not the only requirements, but also handling and good balance of tensile strength and elongation are important factors. In the present development, we set higher targets, with tensile strength higher than 30% and above 130MPa compared with pare aluminum and elongation above 5% from handling. We achieved these mechanical properties, reducing the electrical conductivity decline as much as possible, and we set the target for electrical conductivity above 58%IACS.

Fig. 1 - Influence of the addition element exerted on electrical conductivity of aluminum2) Selection of an addition element and quantity is considered so that electrical conductivity may be set to about 60% IACS.

Figure 1 shows changes in electrical conductivity after adding various elements to pure aluminum. Ni, Zn, Fe, Ag, Cu, Si, Mg, Zr, etc. can be considered possible additives in small quantities to reduce the decline in elec* Resarch & Develpment Group, Hitachi Cable, Ltd. ** Electronic & Automotive Products Group

trical conductivity to a minimum. Table 1 shows the influence on tensile strength after adding various elements to pure aluminum. Although results show improvements on the strength of Cu and Fe, aluminum is used in many cases with steel material, and the need for recycling should be taken into consideration. Under these considerations we excluded Cu as a possible additive, since it is known that this has a negative influence if contained in steel even in very small quantities. On the other hand, Fe is completely satisfactory on this point. Moreover, Fe is reported as a material which performs process softening of the aluminum and as a material used to improve elongation. Moreover, since it is added in small quantities, Fe can form a solid solution with aluminum, and improvement in tensile strength may be expected with the Properzi process and the precipitation processing by heat treatment. Under these considerations we decided to utilize Fe as an additive. Furthermore, thermal resistance improvement was also consid-

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ered and Zr was considered as an element to improve thermal resistance. As a result, tensile strength and heat-resistance were improved by adding Zr in amounts of 0.28mass% with aluminum. It was decided to utilize Fe and Zr as additive to be included in this study.
Table 1 Contribution of each element to solid solution hardening of aluminum3) (sy / C, sf / C : 0.2% proof stress and the amount of increases of modification resistance by addition of unit mass % ) It turns out that the effect of the improvement of 0.2% proof stress and modification resistance in Fe is high especially as an element.
y

Figure 3 shows the tensile strength and elongation of pure aluminum and Al-Fe alloy wire annealed at 320C. As for an Al-Fe alloy wire, this shows as expected that tensile strength and elongation after re-crystallization are large compared with the pure aluminum wire.

300 250
Tensile Storength (MPa)

(a)

30 25 20 15 10 5 0
Elongation (%)
35 25 20
Elongation (%)

200 150 100 50

/C

/C

Element Ag Be Cd Ce Cu Fe Ga Ge Hf Mg Mn Si V Zn

(MPa/mass%) 19.6

(MPa/mass%) 14.7 19.6 66.6 or 58.8 90.2

: Al : Al-0.3%Fe : Al-0.6%Fe : Tensile Strength : Elongation

Electrical Conductivity (% IACS)

46.6 98 7.35

56.8 125 12.7 15.7 37.2

0 66 64 62 60 58 56 54 RT 100 150 200 250 300 Annealing temperature ( ,1hr) 350 (b)

19.6

24.5 or 15.7 18.6

10.8

19.6 45.1

5.0

9.8 or 2.9

[3] EXAMINATION MATERIAL AND METHOD

At first, we produced aluminum alloy wire rods (of 9.5-mm diameter) including 0.3 - 0.6mass% of Fe and 0.02 - 0.05mass% of Zr, additions within the limits to allow Zr to form a solid solution with aluminum(99.7% of purity) using the Properzi process. Next, we carried out the cold-drawing process and performed heat treatment, furthermore, through the cold-drawing process we produced a wire of 0.25-mm diameter. This was considered as material for further experiment. Moreover, aluminum (99.7% purity) produced with a similar process was used as comparison material for the experiment. Next, we estimated their softening characteristics.
[4] EXPERIMENT RESULT OF ALUMINUM-Fe-Zr SYSTEM ALLOY WIRE, AND CONSIDERATIONS
4.1 Influence of the iron addition on the properties of an aluminum alloy wire

Fig. 2 - Influence of heat treatment temperature on the tensile strength and electrical conductivity of Al-Fe alloy wire (0.25-mm diameter) (a: Tensile strength, b: Electrical conductivity)

140
Tensile Strength (MPa)

130 120 110 100 90 80 0

Tensile strength Elongation

(Annealing temperature : 320

30

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

Fe concentration (mass%)

Figure 2 (a) shows the influence of heat treatment temperature on tensile strength and elongation of an Al-Fe alloy wire (0.25-mm diameter). Figure 2 (b) shows the influence of heat treatment temperature on electrical conductivity. It turns out that the specimen added Fe compared with pure aluminum shows high tensile strength in a wide range of annealing temperatures. Moreover, at an annealing temperature of above 250C, the electrical conductivity of any specimen is carried out at about 2%IACS recovery compared with the no annealing specimen. The reason is thought to be that processed strain was removed.

Fig. 3 - Influence of Fe concentration on tensile strength and elongation after annealing. When the concentration of Fe increases, tensile strength and elongation also increase. 4.2 Influence of Zr addition on the properties of aluminum alloy wire

In section 4.1, Fe addition showed an improvement of tensile strength and elongation compared with pure aluminum. There is little influence on electrical conductivity at both 0.3mass% and 0.6mass% of Fe. For this reason, improvement in tensile strength and the drawing process were thought as important and the amount of Fe added was changed to 0.6mass%. Based on these, Zr was added within the limits of Zr forming a
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solid solution with Al-0.6mass%Fe, and we estimated the various properties. Figure 4 (a) shows the influence of the annealing temperature on the tensile strength and elongation of an Al-Fe-Zr alloy wire (0.25-mm diameter). Figure 4 (b) shows the influence of the annealing temperature on electrical conductivity. The addition of Zr showed that thermal resistance was improved. However, the consequence of adding Zr is the remarkable decline in electrical conductivity compared with improvement in strength, when 0.05mass%Zr is added, it turns out that electrical conductivity falls below 60%IACS. As mentioned above, in consideration of the decline in electrical conductivity and drawing processability, the amount of addition of Zr was set to 0.02mass%. From section 4.1 and 4.2, Al-0.6mass%Fe0.02mass%Zr was selected as the Al-Fe-Zr alloy sample.

with Al-Fe alloy wire. For example, when the amount of added Zr is 0, 0.02, and 0.05mass%, the elongation of 8, 12, and 15% are respectively obtained at a fixed tensile strength of 140 MPa. It is reported that crystal grain turn minutely by 0.2mass% of Zr added, and it is thought that the improvement in tensile strength and elongation is based on the crystal grain effect. From the above, it turns out that Al-Fe-Zr alloy has high tensile strength above 30% compared with pure aluminum and elongation by acquiring above 5% and furthermore their properties can be controlled. Table 2 shows the properties of the specimen. The improvement in above 30% of tensile strength above 5% of elongation, and above 58%IACS of electrical conductivity which Al-0.6mass%Fe-0.02mass%Zr made the target to the pure aluminum wire of the conventional system was acquired. The tensile strength and elongation of this specimen alloy can be adjusted to a necessary value.

300 (a) 250

30

30
25

Tensile Storength (MPa)

200

20

Elongation (%)

25

: Al : Al-0.6%Fe : Al-0.6%Fe-0.02%Zr : Al-0.6%Fe-0.05%Zr

Elongation (%)

150

100

: Al : Al-0.6%Fe : Al-0.6%Fe-0.02%Zr : Al-0.6%Fe-0.05%Zr : Tensile Strength : Elongation

15

20 Target property 15

10

50

10
Electrical Conductivity (% IACS)
0 66 64 62 60 58 56 54 RT 100 150 200 250 300 ,1hr ) 350 Annealing temperature ( 0 (b)

0 100

120

140 160 180 Tensile strength (MPa)

200

Fig. 4 - Influence of heat treatment temperature on the tensile strength and electrical conductivity of Al-Fe-Zr alloy wire (0.25-mm diameter) (a: Tensile strength, b: Electrical conductivity)

Fig. 5 - Comparison of tensile strength of Al -Fe-Zr alloy wires (0.25mmdiameter) with pure aluminum. Al-Fe-Zr alloy combines tensile strength and elongation.

[5] COMPREHENSIVE CHARACTERISTIC EVALUATION OF AN Al-Fe-Zr SYSTEM ALLOY WIRE

If considering use as a wire for electric equipment, then it is required to combine tensile strength and elongation triggered by the advantage of handling. For this reason, it is required that tensile strength and elongation be adjusted. As in section 4, it turns out that improvement in tensile strength and elongation is expected by softening examination at the time. Then, examination obtains the balance tensile strength and elongation by special heat treatment. Figure 5 shows the tensile strength and elongation of Al-Fe alloy and Al-Fe-Zr alloy wire under various conditions of heat treatment. It turns out that the tensile strength and elongation of Al-Fe-Zr alloy wire are excellent compared
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Table 2 Example of room temperature properties of Al-FeZr alloy wire in an experiment (0.25mm-diameter) In annealed Al-0.6mass%Fe-0.02mass%Zr, tensile strength increases 22%, equivalent elongation and above 60%IACS electrical conductivity as compared with annealed pure aluminum.
Tensile Strength (MPa) Annealed material Annealed material Pure Aluminum Conventional material 104 22 63.8 Elongation (%) Electrical Conductivity (% IACS)

Alloy composition

Developed material

Al-0.6mass%Fe0.02mass%Zr

146

60.4

120

63.0

Comparison material

[6] CABLE UTILIZING DEVELOPED ALUMINUM ALLOY WIRE

The cable (0.3SQ, 7/0.25) was produced as a cable used for the car and the rebot for which lightering was needed. Figure 6 shows the cable utilizing the developed Al-0.6mass%Fe0.02mass%Zr as an experiment. Figure 7 shows a cross-section photograph. In the trial production of this cable, the processes of drawing and twisting covering of the wire and insulator etc. are no problem. Table 3 shows the properties of the cable. We expect the use of this aluminum alloy to expand in the future.

that responded to the new concept and, at the same time, can control tensile strength and elongation. Moreover, the possibility of being supplied with similar conductivity as pure aluminum so that it can respond to customer's various needs and respect environmental and recycling requirements. One of the features of this alloy wire is its possibility to be manufactured using the Properzi process of continuity casting rolling method in consideration of the homogeneity of the composition. With this developed aluminum alloy wire, while offering the function according to demand of a Customer, the it is hoped that its use can be extended to various fields.
[8] ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We wish to express our deep gratitude to Ibaraki University and to Professor Goroh Ito for their precious counsel and cooperation in the development of this aluminum alloy wire.
REFERENCES
Twist wire

20 mm

Fig. 6 - Twist wire from the cable (0.3SQ, 7/0.25) produced using the newly developed aluminum alloy. The cable was insulated after twisting seven Al-Fe-Zr alloy wires (0.25mm-diameter).

(1) Y.Miyake: Keikinzoku, 36(1986), 51-60, 112-121. (2) E.E.Handbook: The Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan, (1978), 619. (3) The organization and character of aluminum: The Japan Institute of Light Metals, (1991), 160. (4) K.Shibata. et al: Fyeramu,7(2002),18-22. (5) H.Takei. et al: Keikinzoku,30(1980),626-633. (6) T.Fukui: Keikinzoku, 18(1968)320-331 (7) H.Suzuki. et al: Keikinzoku,33(1983),29-37. (8) W.A.Dean: Aluminum,Ed.by J.E.Hatch,American Soc.Met.,Metals Park,Ohio,(1984),240.
Toshiyuki Horikoshi Resarch & Develpment Group Materials Technology Research & Development Center Currently engagad in research and development of electric materials

Insulation

Twisted wires

0.5 mm

Hiromitsu Kuroda

Fig. 7 - A cross section of the trial production cable (0.3SQ, 7/0.25)

Table 3 Cable properties using Al-Fe-Zr alloy wire at room temperature In the trial production of this cable, wire drawing and twisting wire and insulated covering, etc. have been conducted without any problems.
Cable Existence of Breaking Elongation strength Development material composition covering (%) (N) With no 16.4 42.2 covering Al-0.6mass%Fe-0.02mass%Zr 7 / 0.25 Those with 20.3 59.7 covering Electrical conductivity (%IACS) 60.7

Resarch & Develpment Group Materials Technology Research & Development Center Currently engagad in research and development of electric materials

Michiaki Shimizu Electronic & Automotive Products Group Automotive Components Production Div. Electric Components Dept.

[7] CONCLUSION

Seigi Aoyama Resarch & Develpment Group Materials Technology Research & Development Center Ph.D. degree in Material Sciene The Japan insutitute of Metals Currently engaged in research and development of electric materials.

In recent years the remarkable progress of the automotive and electronics industry, the need for lightweight electric conduction material has increaseed and the development of aluminum electric conduction material was considered with this in mind. This development of an alloy wire focused on a material

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