High Strength and High Electrical Conductivity Al Nanocomposites for DC Transmission Cable Applications

Aluminum is one of the most abundant lightweight metals on Earth with broad practical applications, such as in electrical wires. Although traditional aluminum manufacturing by alloying, deformation and thermomechanical means addresses balance between high strength conductivity, adding metallic ceramic nanoparticles into matrix can be an exciting alternative approach to mass produce Here, we show a new class nanocomposite conductors (ANECs), significantly higher hardness (130 HV) good conductivity (41% IACS). This ANEC composed Al dispersed TiB2 nanoparticles, confirmed XRD scanning SEM imaging. We further observed unusual ultra-fine grain (UFG) size when slow cooling samples, small 300 nm was clearly captured FIB images. believe that significant enhancement partially attributed UFG. Our investigation theoretical analysis validated UFG achieved are uniformly distributed matrix, this understanding important for development wires conductivity.