Alloys electrical conductivity

See also Alloy Electrical conductivity Element, chemical Metallurgy. 

Class Metal or Alloy Electrical Conductivity (%IACS)... 

Common name Polycarbonate ABS alloy, electrically conductive ... 

Blocks have been prepared of 7075-T6 aluminum alloy 20 mm thick, with electrical conductivity of 1.89x10 S/m. The discontinuity has been machined by milling at a width of 0.2 mm. 

Although its electrical conductivity is only about 60% that of copper, it is used in electrical transmission lines because of its light weight. Pure aluminum is soft and lacks strength, but it can be alloyed with small amounts of copper, magnesium, silicon, manganese, and other elements to impart a variety of useful properties. 

Disadvantages associated with some organic solvents include toxicity flammabiHty and explosion ha2ards sensitivity to moisture uptake, possibly leading to subsequent undesirable reactions with solutes low electrical conductivity relatively high cost and limited solubiHty of many solutes. In addition, the electrolyte system can degrade under the influence of an electric field, yielding undesirable materials such as polymers, chars, and products that interfere with deposition of the metal or alloy. 

Alloy Nominal composition, % Tensile strength, MPa " Yield strength, MPa " Elongation, % Electrical conductivity, MH-cm... 

Potassium, a soft, low density, silver-colored metal, has high thermal and electrical conductivities, and very low ionization energy. One useful physical property of potassium is that it forms Hquid alloys with other alkah metals such as Na, Rb, and Cs. These alloys have very low vapor pressures and melting points. 

Silver, a white, lustrous metal, slightly less malleable and ductile than gold (see Gold and gold compounds), has high thermal and electrical conductivity (see SiLVERAND SILVER alloys). Most silver compounds are made from silver nitrate [7761-88-8], AgNO, which is prepared from silver metal. 

A 99.5% Cu—0.5% Te alloy has been on the market for many years (78). The most widely used is alloy No. CA145 (number given by Copper Development Association, New York), nominally containing 0.5% tellurium and 0.008% phosphorous. The electrical conductivity of this alloy, in the aimealed state, is 90—98%, and the thermal conductivity 91.5—94.5% that of the tough-pitch grade of copper. The machinahility rating, 80—90, compares with 100 for free-cutting brass and 20 for pure copper. 

Antimony is also used as a dopant in n-ty e semiconductors. It is a common additive in dopants for siHcon crystals with impurities, to alter the electrical conductivity. Interesting semiconductor properties have been reported for cadmium antimonide [12050-27-0] CdSb, and zinc antimonide [12039-35-9] ZnSb. The latter has good thermoelectric properties. Antimony with a purity as low as 99.9+% is an important alloying ingredient in the bismuth teUuride [1304-82-17, Bi Te, class of alloys which are used for thermoelectric cooling. 

Almost all the methods described for the nickel electrode have been used to fabricate cadmium electrodes. However, because cadmium, cadmium oxide [1306-19-0], CdO, and cadmium hydroxide [21041-95-2], Cd(OH)2, are more electrically conductive than the nickel hydroxides, it is possible to make simple pressed cadmium electrodes using less substrate (see Cadmium and cadmium alloys Cadmium compounds). These are commonly used in button cells. 

Strength. Tensile properties and electrical conductivities of selected copper alloys having commercial importance are Hsted in Table 5. The principal source of strengthening and the individual product forms in which each alloy is usually available are also identified. 

Electrical—Thermal Conductivities. Electrical conductivities of alloys (Table 5) are often expressed as a percentage relative to an International Annealed Copper Standard (lACS), ie, units of % lACS, where the value of 100 % lACS is assigned to pure copper having a measured resistivity value of 0.017241 Q mm /m. The measurement of resistivity and its conversion to % lACS is covered under ASTM B193 (8). 

Electrical conductivity of copper is affected by temperature, alloy additions and impurities, and cold work (9—12). Relative to temperature, the electrical conductivity of armealed copper falls from 100 % lACS at room temperature to 65 % lACS at 150°C. Alloying invariably decreases conductivity. Cold work also decreases electrical conductivity as more and more dislocation and microstmctural defects are incorporated into the armealed grains. These defects interfere with the passage of conduction electrons. Conductivity decreases by about 3—5% lACS for pure copper when cold worked 75% reduction in area. The conductivity of alloys is also affected to about the same degree by cold work. 

Copper and its alloys also have relatively good thermal conductivity, which accounts for thek appHcation where heat removal is important, such as for heat sinks, condensers, and heat exchanger tubes (see Heatexchangetechnology). Thermal conductivity and electrical conductivity depend similarly on composition primarily because the conduction electrons carry some of the thermal energy. 

To a good approximation, thermal conductivity at room temperature is linearly related to electrical conductivity through the Wiedemann-Eran2 rule. This relationship is dependent on temperature, however, because the temperature variations of the thermal and the electrical conductivities are not the same. At temperatures above room temperature, thermal conductivity of pure copper decreases more slowly than does electrical conductivity. Eor many copper alloys the thermal conductivity increases, whereas electrical conductivity decreases with temperature above ambient. The relationship at room temperature between thermal and electrical conductivity for moderate to high conductivity alloys is illustrated in Eigure 5. 

Resistance welding has been successfully appHed to copper alloys in all of its various spot, seam, or butt joining modes. Because the process depends on ohmic (l R) heating at the interface to be joined, the abiHty to resistance weld is inversely related to electrical conductivity of the alloys being welded. 

UNS Alloy, wt % Electrical conductivity, % lACS Tensile strength, MPa 0.2% Yield strength, MPa Elongation in 50 mm, %... 

Commercial precipitation hardening copper alloys are based on beryUium, chromium, and nickel, this last in combination with siUcon or tin. The principal attributes of these alloys are high strength in association with adequate formabiUty. Electrical conductivity varies according to alloy and ranges from around 20 to 80% lACS. 

Typical properties of these alloys are shown in Table 25. In addition, these alloys exhibit notably excellent resistance to stress relaxation at high appHcation temperatures, for instance 200°C, and in this respect outperform beryUium—copper. However, the electrical conductivity of the strongest Cu—Ni—Sn composition (C729) is lower than that of C172. 

This computation is also referred to as calculating the zinc equivalent of the alloy. The increase in strength in this alloy series is caused by increased amounts of beta phase in the stmcture. The silicon brasses show similar hardening effects accompanying a second phase. Typical mechanical properties and electrical conductivity for various cast alloys are shown in Table 2. 

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