Thermophysical Properties of Aluminum 1060 Fabricated by Equal Channel Angular Pressing

Equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) has the advantage of enabling an ultrafine grain size. Aluminum 1060 is used as a power plant material because of its favorable electrical properties. However, the weak strength of aluminum limits its application. In this study, the thermal conductivity and electrical conductivity of Al 1060 made by ECAP was investigated. ECAP was conducted through the die having a channel angle of 90 degrees and a corner angle of 20 degrees at a temperature of 473K with a strain rate of 2mm . s(-1). The specimen was then processed with 1 to 8 passes by the route Bc method with 90 degrees rotation. In the case of eight passes, the grain size was reduced to as small as 300 nm. As a result of the ECAP, the tensile strength was raised from 75MPa to 134MPa, while the electrical conductivity did not show a significant difference after eight passes. The thermal conductivity gradually decreased with ECAP passes, because of the decreased grain size by ECAP.