THE HOT-WORKING CHARACTERISTICS OF EUTECTIC-ROD-STABILIZED CONDUCTOR ALLOYS

Recrystallized, rolled rods of two Al conductor alloys were deformed i n torsion between 200 and 500-degrees-C and 0.02 and 5.0 s-1. The flow stresses were found to depend on the strain rate through a sinh funct ion with exponents of 3.1 and 3.5 and on temperature through an Arrhen ius term with activation energies of about 260 kJ mol-1, much greater than for Al. Flow stresses increased with rising eutectic content and were considerably higher than commercial Al at 300 and 200-degrees-C, consistent with their resistance to creep softening in that range and resulting in considerable adiabatic heating at the higher strain rates . The strengthening depends upon the dispersion of the eutectic rods w hich were refined by continuous wheel casting, were fractured and disp ersed by rolling, and have very low solubility.