In-situ composite Cu-Cr contact cables with high strength and high conductivity

In order to develop a new type of contact cable with high strength and high electrical conductivity, Cu-Cr alloy series were selected as materials and Cu-Cr alloy castings were produced by means of directional solidification continuous casting (DSCC) process. The results show that the fibrillar strengthening phase, B-Cr, orderly arranges among the copper matrix phase along the wire direction; and a microstructure of in-situ composite forms, which retains the basic property of good conductivity of the copper matrix and meanwhile obtains the strengthening effect of B-Cr phase. The production technology as well as the mechanical property, electrical property, and synthetic property of the in-situ composite contact cables was discussed.