Kunming University of Science and Technology, (KUST) and Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics(BUAA) have recently made significant progress in the development of high-strength, high-conductivity, and heat-resistant aluminum alloys. They have successfully fabricated an aluminum-zirconium-scandium alloy wire with well-matched strength, conductivity, and heat resistance, achieving a breakthrough in green aluminum, titanium industries, and advanced manufacturing.
High-strength, high-conductivity, and heat-resistant aluminum alloys are key basic materials for overhead transmission line cables. Research shows that the synergistic improvement of strength, conductivity, and heat resistance of aluminum-zirconium-scandium alloys will have broad application prospects. Elucidating the influence of the processing route on the alloy microstructure and properties is crucial for improving the alloy's performance.
The research team led by Professor Zhenhua Li from KUST and the teams led by Professor Chaoli Ma and Professor Wenlong Xiao from BUAA collaborated to study the quantitative relationship between the process parameters of the processing route and the organization, strength, and conductivity of the aluminum-zirconium-scandium alloy. The results show that by using the rapid solidification-hot deformation-aging-cold drawing route, the fine grain strengthening, precipitation strengthening, dislocation strengthening, and dynamic precipitation of scandium atoms during hot deformation can be fully utilized to obtain high-strength, high-conductivity, and heat-resistant aluminum-zirconium-scandium alloy wires.
Recently, the research team conducted a pilot test at Yunnan Aluminum Zexin Co., Ltd. and Kunming Cable Co., Ltd. They successfully fabricated tens of thousands of meters of high-strength, high-conductivity, and heat-resistant aluminum alloy wires, which passed authoritative third-party testing. The conductivity reached 61.1%, the tensile strength was 161 MPa, the elongation was 5.6%, and the strength retention rate after holding at 280°C for 1 hour was 96%.
The related results were published in the academic journal "Materials Science and Technology".
The research team believes that this new type of aluminum alloy has the potential to replace traditional copper conductors in overhead transmission lines, which will greatly reduce the weight of the transmission lines, improve the transmission efficiency, and reduce the energy consumption and cost of power transmission.
This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Key Research and Development Program of Yunnan Province.
