Microstructure and Property Evolution of an Al-Mg-Si Alloy Cable during the Production Process

An Al-Mg-Si alloy cable was manufactured by a production process including hot rolling (HR), drawing (DR) and aging (AA) treatment after Properzi continuous casting. The microstructures, electrical conductivity (EC) and tensile properties of the alloy samples at different production stages were investigated. The present work focused on the microstructural evolutions and their effects on electron conduction and strengthening mechanism. It was found that the dispersed clusters were firstly formed in the DR sample, and then, they were produced in large quantities in the AA sample. The EC decreased after drawing and increased after aging, while the strength progressively increased. The results demonstrated that the recrystallization won the competition with other phase reactions during hot rolling. The drawing process refined the grains and increased dislocation density, leading to the reduction of EC and the improvement of strength. After aging treatment, the dislocation density decreased and the precipitation occurred, resulting in the desired EC (54.2 IACS%) and strength (320 MPa).