Subgrain strengthening of aluminum conductor wires

The influence of wire processing variables on the formation of subgrain structures and strengthening in three aluminum conductor materials is described. Electrical conductor grade aluminum, an Al-Fe-Mg alloy and an Al-Fe-Co alloy each develop subgrain structures with mean linear intercepts (?L) in the range of 0.4 to 1.5 μm with several sequences of wiredrawing and partial annealing. The yield strengths of these wires were found to obey a a = σ₀ +k(?L)^m relationship, with an exponentm = -1 independent of the processing sequence used to arrive at the structure. The role of precipitate particles in the alloys is to raisek above that for EC-A1 while Mg in solid solution increases σ₀. The precipitates also affect the development of the substructure during the wiredrawing and annealing.