NEW CONTINUOUSLY CART CUNISN ALLOYS PROVIDE EXCELLENT STRENGTH AND HIGH ELECTRICAL-CONDUCTIVITY

A new wire production route has been developed for the spinodally deco mposing CuNiSn alloys on the basis of continuous upcasting and thermom echanical treatment. Age hardening of the alloy CuNi9Sn6 and several n on-standardized upcast copper-nickel-tin alloys has been characterized . low-nickel alloys have higher electrical conductivity than the stand ardized alloy CuNi9Sn6. Alloy CuNi6Sn7 is the most promising of the ne w alloys studied in this work. Electrical conductivity of this alloy i s typically 15-17 % IACS in age hardened state and its tensile propert ies and ductility are dose to those of CuNi9Sn6. In the form of age ha rdened wire both alloys have typically a minimum tensile strength of 1 000-1200 N/mm(2).