Effect of casting mode and thermal treatments on the electrical conductivity of the AA4006 aluminum alloy

Abstract

Abstract Initially studied was the effect of the casting mode on the electrical conductivity of AA4006 aluminum alloy sheets produced by both Twin Roll Casting (TRC) and by the semi-continuous Direct Chill (DC) industrial processes, when compared to sheets with commercial purity (AA1050) and high purity aluminum (AA1199). Then, the effects of heat treatments on the electrical conductivity of the AA4006 alloy sheets produced by TRC were also studied. Isochronous and isothermal heat treatments allowed to obtain the precipitation and solution kinetics of the intermetallic compounds. The precipitation kinetics was analyzed with the help of the Johnson-Mehl-Avrami-Kolmogorov equation.

Keywords

• alloy
• electrical conductivity
• microstructure
• continuous casting
• semi-continuous casting