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Scripta Materialia xxx (2014) xxx–xxx
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A nanostructural design to produce high-strength Al alloys

with enhanced electrical conductivity
R.Z. Valiev,a,b M. Yu. Murashkina,b and I. Sabirovc,⇑
a
Institute for Physics of Advanced Materials, Ufa State Aviation Technical University, K. Marx str. 12, Ufa 450000, Russia
b
Laboratory for Mechanics of Bulk Nanostructured Materials, Saint Petersburg State University,
Universitetsky pr. 28, 198504, Peterhof, Saint Petersburg, Russia
c
IMDEA Materials Institute, Calle Eric Kandel 2, Getafe, 28906 Madrid, Spain
Received 9 October 2013; revised 25 November 2013; accepted 2 December 2013

The high strength and increased electrical conductivity of the Al alloys are highly desirable for their applications in power
transmission lines. However, high strength and high electrical conductivity are mutually exclusive in metallic materials. A novel
nanostructuring strategy is reported that achieves Al–Mg–Si alloys with superior tensile strength and enhanced electrical conduc-
tivity. The new strategy is based on a combination of grain refinement down to ultra-fine scale with accelerated formation of
nanosized precipitates during severe plastic deformation.
Ó 2013 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: High pressure torsion; Aluminum alloys; Dynamic aging; Nanostructured materials; Electrical properties

Mechanical strength and electrical conductivity
are the most important properties of conducting metallic
materials used in electrical engineering. Electrical con-
ductivity is very sensitive to the microstructure of the
metallic materials, since it is determined by the scatter-
ing of electrons because of disturbances in the atomic
crystal structure, including thermal vibrations, solutes
and crystal defects. As solute atoms and crystal struc-
ture defects lead to increased mechanical strength of
metals, high electrical conductivity and high strength
are usually mutually exclusive. Pure Al, which has very
high electrical conductivity (62% IACS (International
Annealed Copper Standard)), but very low mechanical
tensile strength (160 MPa), is a good example. The
alloying of pure Al, strain hardening or precipitation
strengthening to increase its mechanical strength results
in dramatic degradation of its electrical conductivity.
The selection of the optimum conductors for power
transmission lines is always a compromise between their
mechanical and electrical properties, as well as invest-
ment and the cost of the losses along the lifetime of
the line [1]. The Al–Mg–Si alloys (6xxx series) have been
widely used as conductors for overhead power lines,
⇑ Corresponding
author. Tel./fax: +34 91 549 34 22; e-mail:
ilchat.sabirov@imdea.org
owing to their good combination of enhanced strength
and electrical conductivity compared with other Al
alloys. These alloys can exhibit the ultimate tensile
strength in the range 255–330 MPa and electrical con-
ductivity between 92 and 86% of the conductivity of
pure aluminum, resulting in 57.5 and 52.5% IACS (area
marked in green in Fig. 1) [1,2]. These properties are
achieved in the Al–Mg–Si wires after a standard manu-
facturing route consisting of solution treatment, water
quenching and cold drawing into wires, followed by arti-
ficial aging (T81). This thermo-mechanical processing
leads to the formation of second-phase precipitates
Mg2Si in the grain interior through the conventional
aAl ! GP ! b00 ! b0 phase transformation sequence
[3]. Such microstructures show enhanced precipitation
hardening and a somewhat increased electrical conduc-
tivity as a result of partial purification of the Al matrix
from Mg and Si solute atoms, since the solute atoms dis-
solved in the matrix and Guinier–Preston (GP) zones are
the most efficient lattice defects scattering electrons in
metallic materials [4]. Any additional manipulation with
the processing parameters in this thermo-mechanical
processing route leads to either improvement in strength
at the expense of electrical conductivity or improvement
in electrical conductivity at the expense of strength.
Further simultaneous enhancement of strength and

1359-6462/$ - see front matter Ó 2013 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scriptamat.2013.12.002

Please cite this article in press as: R.Z. Valiev et al., Scripta Mater. (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scriptamat.2013.12.002
2 R. Z. Valiev et al. / Scripta Materialia xxx (2014) xxx–xxx
Figure 1. Electrical conductivity (in IACS) of the various Al–Mg–Si
alloys (AL-2–AL-7) used in electrical engineering for overhead power
lines is plotted vs. their ultimate tensile strength [1,2] and compared with
the results on the Al6201 alloy obtained in the present work. (For
interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is
referred to the web version of this article.)
electrical conductivity cannot be reached by this pro-
cessing route, since each induced strengthening mecha-
nism adds some extra electrical resistivity. This is also
clearly seen from Figure 1, where the electrical conduc-
tivity is plotted vs. tensile strength for a range of the
conventional Al–Mg–Si alloys used at present in electri-
cal engineering (green area in Fig. 1).
This work proposes a new strategy for nanostructural
design in the Al alloys for the new generation conduc-
tors. This strategy is based on intelligent manipulation
with the strengthening mechanisms and mechanisms of
electrical resistivity by grain refinement down to submi-
crometer scale, using severe plastic deformation (SPD)
at room temperature, followed by decomposition of so-
lid solution and formation of nanosized second-phase
precipitates via dynamic aging during SPD processing
at elevated temperatures. These ultra-fine grained
(UFG) microstructures with second-phase nanoprecipi-
tates can show superior mechanical strength owing to
grain boundary strengthening and precipitation harden-
ing. At the same time, the very low content of solute
atoms and absence of GP zones in the Al matrix results
in significantly enhanced electrical conductivity. In
recent years, there has been significant progress in the
application of SPD processing to Al alloys [5,6], which
allows novel processing routes to be developed to
enhance their properties further.
An Al 6201 alloy was chosen, which has been widely
used as a material for electroconductors [1]. The chemi-
cal composition of the alloy (wt. %): Mg 0.6–0.9, Si 0.5–
0.9, Fe  0.5, Cu  0.10, Zn  0.1, Cr  0.03,
Mn  0.03. The material was supplied by Ludinovocable.
Disks with diameter 20 mm and thickness 1.5 mm were
solution treated at 530 °C for 2 h and quenched in
water. Then the disks were subjected to SPD processing
by high-pressure torsion (HPT) using unconstrained an-
vils [7]. Three processing regimes were selected: room
temperature (RT), and further straining at 130 °C,
180 °C and 230 °C. The disks were subjected to one
HPT turn at room temperature followed by 20 HPT
Please cite this article in press as: R.Z. Valiev et al., Scripta Mater. (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scriptamat.2013.12.002
turns at elevated temperatures. The top and bottom an-
vils and the specimen between them were placed in the
heating chamber (furnace). The chamber possesses very
high thermal stability and is able to keep the tempera-
ture constant during processing with no temperature
gradient between top and bottom anvils (which has been
continuously checked during numerous HPT trials). The
controlling K-type thermocouple was fixed to the top
(non-rotating) anvil at the distance of 10 mm from the
disk. Very high strain was induced in the disks; in partic-
ular, the total true strain at a distance of 6 mm from the
disk centre was 7.24 [7]. The microstructure of the al-
loy was characterized by transmission electron micros-
copy (TEM) using a JEM 2100 instrument operating
at 200 kV. The electrical conductivity of the alloy at
RT was measured using the eddy current method. At
least 20 measurements were taken, and the average val-
ues and their standard deviation were calculated. Speci-
mens with gauge length 4 mm and gauge width 1 mm
were cut out from the areas with homogeneous micro-
structure, so the tensile axis of the samples was located
at 6 mm from the disk centre. Tensile tests were
carried out using a 2 kN INSTRON-type universal
machine. Specimens were deformed to failure at RT
with constant cross-head speed corresponding to the
initial strain rate of 103 s1. Three tensile specimens
were tested and the results were found to be reproduc-
ible. The X-ray studies were carried out using a Rigaku
Ultima IV diffractometer. The lattice parameter was
determined with the accuracy of ±0.0001 Å.
Careful TEM studies have shown that the alloy pro-
cessed at RT exhibits a very homogeneous UFG micro-
structure with a mean grain size of 130 nm (Fig. 2a).
The grain interior is characterized by a low density of
lattice dislocations. Meanwhile, spreading of spots on
selected area electron diffraction patterns and extinction
lines inside grains point to the high residual stresses
present as a result of the non-equilibrium character of
grain boundaries containing extrinsic dislocations [8,9].
200 nm
(a)
500 nm 100 nm
(b) (c)
Figure 2. TEM images of the Al 6201 alloy subjected to HPT
processing at: (a) RT; (b, c) 180 °C. (a), (b) General view of UFG
structures and (c) morphology of precipitates.
 R. Z. Valiev et al. / Scripta Materialia xxx (2014) xxx–xxx 3

Table 1. Microstructure, mechanical properties and electrical conductivity of the Al 6201 alloy in the studied conditions (d, grain size; dp, size of
second-phase precipitates; a, lattice parameter; rUTS, ultimate tensile strength; d, elongation to failure; x, electrical conductivity).
Processing Structure a (Å) rUTS (MPa) d (%) x (MS m1) IACS (%)
SST CG, d = 65 lm 4.0526 95 20.4 29.6 51.0
T81 CG 4.0512 330 6.1 31.1 53.6
HPT at RT UFG, d = 130 nm 4.0521 510 2.5 27.7 47.7
HPT at 130 °C UFG, d = 280 nm, dp = 10 nm 4.0509 412 4.9 32.3 55.6
HPT at 180 °C UFG, d = 440 nm, dp = 30 nm 4.0505 365 8.8 33.9 58.4
HPT at 230 °C UFG, d = 960 nm, dp = 50 nm 4.0500 275 19.1 34.2 59.0

Further HPT straining at elevated temperatures sig- and the values of strength and conductivity obtained
nificantly affects the UFG microstructure (Fig. 2b). The are presented in Table 1. This combination of high
results of microstructural characterization of the HPT strength and high conductivity is shown to be unique
processed Al 6201 alloy are presented in Table 1. The and unusual for these Al alloys (Fig. 1).
mean grain size in the alloy increases to 280 nm, Advanced properties obtained in the studied Al
440 nm and 960 nm after HPT processing at 130 °C, alloys after HPT processing can be rationalized based
180 °C and 230 °C, respectively (Table 1). A very on the microstructure developed in the materials,
important feature of these microstructures is the pres- namely, formation of ultra-fine grains and nanosized
ence of spherical second-phase nanoprecipitates second-phase precipitates. Indeed, according to the
(Fig. 2c). The average size of the second-phase precip- Hall–Petch law rgs = Kd1/2 for the grain size of
itates increases with increasing HPT processing temper- 440 nm (HPT temperature 180 °C) and
ature from 10 nm (at 130 °C) to 50 nm (230 °C) K = 0.10 MPa m1/2 [14], the grain size hardening
(Table 1). These nanoprecipitates have been identified rgs = 154 MPa. The precipitation hardening from the
as b0 -Mg2Si, and they are typically formed as a result nanoprecipitates with size 30 nm and spatial distribu-
of dynamic aging, which occurs during SPD processing tion 200 nm will be rOr = 112 MPa, according to the
of the Al–Mg–Si alloys at elevated temperatures [10– Orowan law [15,16]. Apart from that, there should be
12]. It should be noted that these nanoprecipitates have a contribution of solid solution hardening rss from
a different morphology compared with the nanoprecip- the small number of atoms still remaining in the matrix,
itates formed in the material during static aging, which and a small contribution from dislocation hardening
have a needle shape. This was attributed to the strong rd. Their mutual contribution rss + rd can be estimated
dislocation activity during SPD processing and the via the relationship
resulting shear of precipitates [11]. The X-ray measure-
ments clearly show that HPT processing leads to a sig- ry ¼ ro þ rgs þ rOr þ rss þ rd ð1Þ
nificant decrease in the lattice parameter of the Al where ro = 10 MPa is the Peierls Nabarro stress [14].
matrix (Table 1) illustrating a strong decomposition For the sample processed at 180 °C, rss + rd = 50 MPa,
of the supersaturated solid solution. This is in a good and this decreases with increasing processing tempera-
accordance with the results of the recent investigations ture (Table 2).
using the three-dimensional atom probe technique [8]. As all strengthening mechanisms lead to additional
The lattice parameter in the alloys processed at distortions in the lattice structure of metals, it can be as-
230 °C becomes nearly equal to that of the pure Al sumed that each strengthening mechanism provides an
(4.0494 Å), which indicates near-complete purification additional increase in the electrical resistivity of metallic
of the matrix from the solute atoms as a result of materials, and the well-known Matthiessen’s rule [4] can
dynamic aging (Table 1). The appearance of typical be presented as
banded diffraction contrast at grain boundaries indi-
cates significant recovery of non-equilibrium grain qtotal ¼ q þ qss þ qp þ qd þ qgb ð2Þ
boundaries during HPT at elevated temperatures
(Fig. 2b) [13]. where qtotal is the total electrical resistance, q is the
Data on mechanical properties and electrical conduc- electrical resistivity of the lattice, qss is the resistivity
tivity of the Al 6201 alloy after HPT processing are also due to solute atoms dissolved in the matrix, qp is the
presented in Table 1. The HPT processing at room tem-
perature leads to a different increase in strength when
Table 2. Estimation of contribution of strengthening mechanisms into
ultimate tensile strength exceeds 500 MPa, but the elec-
yield strength of the HPT processed Al 6201 alloy (ry, yield strength;
trical conductivity at this temperature is very low at rgs, grain size hardening; rOr, Orowan strengthening; rss, solid solution
47.7% IACS. However, electrical conductivity of the hardening; rd, dislocation hardening).
material significantly increases during HPT processing
HPT ry (MPa) rgs (MPa) rOr (MPa) rss +
at elevated temperatures and, for example, HPT pro-
temperature rd (MPa)
cessing at 230 °C leads to electrical conductivity close
to that of pure Al of 59% IACS (Table 1), whereas the RT 448 277 – 161
tensile strength remains high. A superior combination 130 °C 380 189 110 71
180 °C 326 154 112 50
of high strength and high electrical conductivity is dem-
230 °C 218 102 89 17
onstrated by the alloy processed at 130 °C and 180 °C,

Please cite this article in press as: R.Z. Valiev et al., Scripta Mater. (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scriptamat.2013.12.002
4 R. Z. Valiev et al. / Scripta Materialia xxx (2014) xxx–xxx
resistivity added by second-phase precipitates, qd is the
resistivity due to dislocations present in the
microstructure, and qgb is the resistivity due to grain
boundaries. It should be noted that the qp can consist
of several parts if several types of second-phase precip-
itates (GP zones, non-coherent precipitates, coherent
precipitates) are present in the microstructure. The qss
and qp (for GP zones) provide the highest contributions
to the total resistivity [4]. Application of two-step pro-
cessing in this work (HPT processing at room temper-
ature followed by HPT processing at elevated
temperatures) results in significant acceleration of
decomposition of the supersaturated solid solution or,
in other words, in enhanced kinetics of dynamic aging
and formation of second-phase nanoprecipitates [17].
In turn, purification of the matrix from solute atoms
and GP zones leads to minimization of both qss and
the qp values and, thus, to enhanced electrical conduc-
tivity (Fig. 1, Table 1).
Manipulation with the strengthening mechanisms
and mechanisms of electrical resistivity via intelligent
nanostructural design in the Al–Mg–Si alloys repre-
sents a very important tool for achieving an outstand-
ing combination of high strength and high electrical
conductivity that cannot be obtained via standard ther-
mo-mechanical processing applied to these alloys. The
new strategy is based on grain refinement down to sub-
micrometer scale via SPD processing at room tempera-
ture, followed by decomposition of solid solution and
precipitation of nanosized second-phase precipitates
via dynamic aging during SPD processing at elevated
temperatures. This approach can also be considered
as a strategy for implementation of large-scale indus-
trial production of cables and wires from Al–Mg–Si
alloys. In particular, continuous SPD processing
techniques such as equal channel angular pressing-
Conform (ECAP-C) have been developed recently [5].
The microstructure evolution during ECAP-C process-
ing is similar to that during HPT processing, so one can
expect that this technique could be used for the fabrica-
tion of high-strength wires with enhanced electrical
conductivity via development of the optimum process-
ing route(s).
Please cite this article in press as: R.Z. Valiev et al., Scripta Mater. (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scriptamat.2013.12.002
The authors gratefully acknowledge the Rus-
sian Ministry for Education and Science for the financial
support of this study through the Federal Targeted
Program: Contract No. 14.B37.21.1953 of 14 November
2012 and Contract No. 14.B25.31.0017 of 28 June 2013.
IS gratefully acknowledges the Spanish Ministry of
Economy and Competitiveness for financial support
through the Ramon y Cajal Fellowship.
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