78 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMPONENTS, PACKAGING, AND MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY-PART A, VOL.

17, NO, MARCH 1994

Intermetallic Compounds at Aluminum-to-Copper

Electrical Interfaces: Effect of Temperature and
Electric Current
M. BraunoviC. Senior Member, IEEE, and N. Alexandrov

Abstract-The effects of intermetallic compounds on the electri-

cal and mechanical properties of bimetallic friction welded AI-Cu
joints was studied. The formation and of intermetallic
compounds was studied in the temperature ranges 200425°C. In 350
addition, the effect of electrical current on the morphology and
kinetics of formation of intermetallic compounds of bimetallic
friction welded aluminum+opper joints was studied in the tem-
perature ranges that was realized by heating AI-Cu
joints with an ac current of different intensities (400-1OOO A).
The contact resistance was found to increase linearly with the
thickness of the intermetallics. The presence of an electrical
field greatly accelerates the kinetics of formation of intermetallic
phases and alters significantly their morphology. The growth
kinetics of intermetallic phases under the influence of electrical
current is much higher than that under diffusion annealing in Fig. 1 . Simplified schematic of the assembly used to measure resistance of
AI-Cu bimetallic contacts.
furnace.

I. INTRODUCTION
intermetallics at the joint interface. It was shown that when the

I N recent years bimetallic welds, particularly, aluminum-to-

copper are increasingly being used in a variety of electrical
applications. Such joints, made by friction welding, pressure
total width of intermetallic phases exceeds 2 pm (microns), the
aluminum-to-copperjoint rapidly loses its mechanical integrity
[21, [41.
welding, diffusion and roll bonding, flash welding and ex- The objective of present investigation is to investigate the
plosion welding, are characterized by relatively stable joint growth kinetics, chemical composition, microhardness and the
interface and negligible intermetallic formation. However, in effect of the intermetallic phases on electrical resistance of
service, frequent current surges on the network may gener- friction-welded aluminum to copper and tin-plated copper
ate favorable conditions for interdiffusion to occur and thus conductor. These were selected because they are most com-
nucleation and growth of intermetallics at or near the initial monly found in all electrical devices and systems. In addition,
interface. This, in turn, can seriously impair the overall electri- an in-depth study of the effect of electrical current on the
cal stability and mechanical integrity of bimetallic joints since growth kinetics, morphology, mechanical (microhardness) and
intermetallic phases have much higher electrical resistance and electrical properties of the intermetallic phases in friction-
lower mechanical strength. welded aluminum to copper conductors was carried out.
The effect of intermetallic phases on the mechanical and
electrical properties of aluminum-to-copper bimetallic welds,
prepared by different welding techniques, has been addressed 11. EXPERIMENTAL
DETAILS
in the past. Some authors found that tensile strength, ductility, The bimetallic samples 5 mm in diameter and 10 cm long
impact resistance and electrical resistance of flash-welded were machined from a friction-welded AI-Cu bar. Diffusion
aluminum-to-copper joints are practically unaffected by ther- annealing was realized in air by heating the aluminum-to-
mal treatment from 2 years at 149°C to 5 min at 371°C [l]. copper bimetallic samples at different temperatures and times
However, more recent investigations of roll-bonded [2]-[4], in electrical fumaces capable of maintaining the temperature
hot-pressed and flash-welded [6], [7] aluminum-to-copper within 415°C. The temperature range used to produce the
joints clearly showed that the mechanical and electrical prop- intermetallic phases was 250 to 515°C. This range was used
erties are dramatically affected by the formation and growth of since the rate of formation of the intermetallic phases is
Manuscript received May 1993. This paper was presented at the 39th
relatively rapid thus permitting the deduction of the rate of
IEEE Holm Conference on Electrical Contacts, Pittsburgh, PA, Sept. 27-29, diffusion at lower temperatures.
1993. Following diffusion annealing, the contact resistance across
The authors are with IREQ, Institut de recherche d'Hydro-Quebec,
Varennes, P.Q., Canada J3X 1S1. the aluminumxopper interface was measured using the high-
IEEE Log Number 9215468. precision microohmetre with a resolution of 0.01 This
0162-8828/94$04.00 1994 IEEE

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BRAUNOVIC AND ALEXANDROV: INTERMETALLIC COMPOUNDS AT ALUMINUM-TO-COPPER ELECTRICAL INTERFACES 79

OPTICAL (200
Fig. SEM and optical micrographs of the intermetallic phases formed in the bimetallic AI-Cu contact after 24 days of diffusion
annealing at C in a furnace.

TABLE I
IMFQRTANTCHARACTERISTICS PHASES
OF INTERMETALLIC FORMED IN THE BIMETALLIC
ALUMINUM-TO-COPPER
SYSTEM.
DATAFOR THE RESISTIVITY, D O ,ACTIVATION
RATECONSTANT ENERGYQ WERETAKENFROM [6]

Phase Symbol Compsn CU (wt A I (wt Hardness Resistivity DO(cm2/sec) Q (kcallmole)

(kgh" 1 (C1fIcm)

Phase 1 72 C UAI~ 80 20 35 14.2 3.2 lo-' 31.6

Phase 2 6 C~3A12 78 22 180 13.4 2.6 10-1 33.5
Phase 3 C UA~b 75 25 624 12.2 2.7 lo6 61.2
Phase 4 CuAl 70 30 648 11.4 1.7 10-6 19.6
Phase 5 0 CuA12 55 45 413 8.0 9.1 10-3 29.3

microohmetre has been developed at IREQ and operates on Water-cooled and hydraulically driven contact plates,
current pulses of 10 A and 17 ms duration. A simplified pressed against the bimetallic samples at 2.5 kN, were used
schema used for resistance measurements is shown in Fig. to maintain the contact and current transfer to the samples.
1. The separation between the potential probes was approx- The current was generated through a step-down transformer,
imately 3 mm. The resistance changes due to the formation the primary of which was connected to a synchronous control
of intermetallic phases at the aluminumxopper interface were system. A thermocouple, located at the contact interface,
sufficiently large to be measured between the potential probes. was connected to this control system. When the interface
Following the resistance measurements, cross sections of temperature reaches the preset value, the control system shuts
bimetallic aluminumxopper samples were examined with the power. This procedure maintained temperature of the
optical and scanning electron microscope and the rate of for- bimetallic contact interface in the range 200 to at
f5"C.
mation of the intermetallic phases formed at the interface were
The contact resistance changes, the rate of formation and
determined. The chemical composition of the intermetallic
the chemical composition of intermetallic phases formed at
phases was determined using the X-ray fluorescent analysis
the Al-Cu interfaces were determined in the same manner as
(EDX). Microhardness of the different phases was determined
described above for the samples treated in thermal gradient.
at 0.4 N (40 g) load.
The effect of electrical current on the formation and
growth kinetics of intermetallic phases in aluminum-to-copper RESULTS
bimetallic joints was investigated by heating the bimetallic
samples 5 mm in diameter and 10 cm long machined from a A. Effect of Temperature
friction-welded AI-Cu bar. Diffusion annealing was realized Over the entire temperature range investigated, the interdif-
in air by heating the aluminum-to-copper bimetallic samples fusion layer consisted of five major bands. These are illustrated
with an ac electrical current ranging from 400 to 1000 A for in the SEM and optical microscope micrographs in Fig. 2,
different times. shawing the cross-section of &e aluminum-copper interface

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80 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMPONENTS, PACKAGING. AND MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY-PART A, VOL. NO. I. MARCH 1994

TABLE I1
THICKNESSES
OF INTERMETALLIC
PHASES(IN MICRONS,pm) IN ALUMINUM-TO-COPPER
BIMETALLIC
JOINTS FOLLOWING
HEATTREATMENT AT DIFFERENT
TEMPERATUFSS
AND TIMES

0.5 1 9 20
5 18
24 22 30 60 102
10 60 120

D (cm2/s) 1.6 1 0 - l ~ 10-l’ x10-I’ x10-10 1.4

QIDO C) 17.2 kcaVmole Do 2.2 IOp6 kcaVmole Do 0.8

I
Or

I 520”c

1
0 1
EB 470°C

425°C
380°C
Imole

3 800
5

(S l n )
Fig. Formation and propagation of the intermetallic phases in the AI-Cu Fig. 4. Arrhenius plot of the rate constant for growth of the diffusion layers
bimetallic contacts diffusion annealed in a furnace. in AI-Cu bimetallic samples diffusion annealed in a furnace and also by an
electrical current. and Q F indicate the activation energies for samples
treated by an electrical current and in a fumace.

after diffusion annealing. The composition of the intermetallic

phases formed are given in Table I whereas the thicknesses of
of formation of intermetallic phases could not be described by
intermetallic phases formed following diffusion annealing in
a single activation energy over the entire temperature range
a fumace are shown in Table
studied but rather by considering the two separate regions,
The growth rate of intermetallic phases was determined by
i.e., 200 to 300°C and 360 to 525°C.
measuring the thicknesses of the interdiffusion layers after
The lower activation energy is generally considered as an
selected time intervals at each of the diffusion annealing
indication of the formation of intermetallic phases by short-
temperatures. The results are shown in Fig. 3. Within the
circuit diffusion via structural defects such as grain boundaries
scatter of experimental data, the relationship between the
and/or dislocations. The activation energy for temperatures
thickness of the intermetallic layer formed and the time
above 350°C is generally associated with the bulk diffu-
( t ) at a given temperature can be represented by
sion.
Dt (1) The resistance rise resulting from the formation of the
intermetallic phases at the A1-Cu interface was determined
where D is the interdiffusion rate constant at the selected by averaging ten resistance measurements made across this
temperature. The activation energy characterizing the rate of interface after selected time intervals at each of the diffusion
formation of the intermetallic phases is given as annealing temperatures. The results are shown in Fig. 5.
Within the scatter of experimental data, the rate of resistance
D Do exp ( - Q / R T ) (2) rise across the A1-Cu interface and thickness (x) of the
where Do is a constant, Q is the activation energy, T is the intermetallic layers formed can be approximated by a linear
temperature and R the universal gas constant. The reaction relationship
rate constant ( D ) calculated from the slope of ( D ) l j 2of each
curve is plotted versus l / T in Fig. 4. It is clear that the rate

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BRAUNOVlC AND ALEXANDROV: INTERMETALLIC COMPOUNDS AT ALUMINUM-TO-COPPER ELECTRICAL INTERFACES 81

TABLE In
THICKNESSES p m) IN ALUMINUM-COPPER
OF INTERMETALLIC PHASES (IN MICRONS,
JorWs FOLLOWING
BIMETALLIC DIFFUSION ANNEALING
BY ELECTRICALCURRENT
Diffusion Annealed by Electric Current
Time (hours)
200° c 250" C 300' C 350' C 400°C 450' C 5oO0 c
0.3 0.5 1 3.5 5.5 20
2 0.45 0.7 1.5 5 10 25 30
5 0.7 1.2 3 8 15 30 50
24 1.6 2.5 5 17 65 100

D (cm2/s) 3.0 x 7.3 x 3.0 x IO-" 3.3 IO-" 2.1 x 4.8 1.2 x10-!J
@/Do Q 13.2 D~ 5.9 x Q 26.5 Do 3.3 x lo-*
kcalhole kcal/mole

Fig. 5. Growth of contact resistance with thickness of the intermetallic

phases formed at the aluminum-copper bimetallic joints after heat treatment
501 00 100 200 300 400 500

Fig. 6. Cracks formed in the intermetallic layers illustrating the fragility

of intermetallic phases formed after diffusion annealing in a furnace. The
microhardness of copper and aluminum are respectively 42 and 38 kg/mm2,

in a furnace at different temperatures and times.

interdiffusion layer consisted of basically four major bands

where Ro and R f are the resistances measured across the (Cu2A1, Cu4A13, CuA1, and CuA12). These are illustrated in
AI-Cu interface before and after diffusion treatment; A is the the SEM micrograph in Fig. 7, showing the cross-section of
proportionality constant with the value of 0.4. the aluminumxopper interface after diffusion annealing by
The microhardness of intermetallic phases was measured an electrical current. The composition of the intermetallic
within the boundaries of these phases and is shown in Table phases formed are given in Table I whereas the thicknesses
I. The microhardness of the intermetallic phases is signifi- of intermetallic layers formed following diffusion annealing
cantly higher than that of aluminum (38 kg/mm2) or copper by an electrical current are given in Table
(42 kg/mm2). Greater microhardness of intermetallic phases The impaired mechanical integrity of the AI-Cu bimetallic
signifies very low mechanical integrity, hence brittleness of the joints treated by an electrical current is clearly demonstrated
A1-Cu joints. The impaired mechanical strength of a sample by an extensive cracking not only across the whole inter-
following diffusion treatment at 47OOC for 20 days is clearly metallic bandwidth but also within different phases and at a
illustrated in Fig. 6. The fracture occurred during mounting in neighboring interface, as seen in Fig. 8. The fracture occurred
the pneumatic press of the sample intended for metallographic during mounting the pneumatic press of the sample intended
examination. The cracks formed not only across the whole for metallographic examination.
intermetallic bandwidth but also within the CuAl phase. It is The growth rate of intermetallic layers can be expressed by
interesting to note that a similar type of fracture was observed (1). The results relating the thickness of intermetallic layers
in flash-welded joints In this case the cracks formed at the (x) with the diffusion annealing time are shown in Fig. 9.
CuA12(B) phase and/or at an adjacent interface. The activation energy characterizing the rate of formation of
intermetallic phases is determined by ( 2 ) , and the results are
shown in Fig. 4, along with the similar data for the samples
B. Effect of Electrical Current annealed in a furnace.
The most characteristic feature of the microstructure formed As in the case of samples treated in a furnace, the rate of
is that over the entire temperature range investigated, the fqtmation of intermetallic phases could not be described by

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82 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMPONENTS, PACKAGING. AND MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY-PART VOL. 17, NO. I , MARCH 1994

AI

0 90

0 200 300
Fig. 7. SEM micrographs of the intermetallic phases formed in the bimetallic
AI-Cu contact after 2 h of diffusion annealing at C by an electrical
current. Fig. 9. Formation and propagation of the intermetallic phases in the A l Z u
bimetallic contact diffusion annealed by an electrical current.

0 30 90 150
Fig. 8. Cracks formed in the intermetallic layers illustrating the fragility of (pm)
intermetallic phases formed in samples heat treated by an electrical current.
Fig. 10. Growth of interface resistance with thickness of the intermetallic
phases formed at the AI-Cu bimetallic joints after heat treatment by an
a single activation energy over the entire temperature range electrical current at different temperatures and times.
studied but rather by considering the two separate regions,
i.e., 200 to 300°C and 350 to 500°C.The activation energy intermetallic layers formed follows (3) with the proportionality
corresponding to temperatures below approximately 350°C is constant A having the value
considerably lower, Q 13.2 kcal/mole, than that obtained The most important feature of these results is that both
for higher temperatures Q 20.5 kcavmole. It is important the rate and the total diffusion bandwidth of the intermetallic
to note that for the same temperature range, these values phases formed under the influence of electrical current are
are significantly lower than those obtained for the samples higher than in samples diffusion annealed in fumaces. Some
diffusion annealed in a furnace, i.e., Q 17.2 kcaYmole and plausible explanation for the observed effect will be provided
Q 32.2 kcdmole. in the discussion. These results are in contrast with those
The contact resistance rise resulting from the formation of obtained in the case of roll-bonded aluminum-to-brass since
the intermetallic phases at the Al-Cu interface was determined no effect of electrical current on the intermetallic growth was
by averaging ten resistance measurements made across this found in this system [8].
interface after selected time intervals at each of the diffusion
annealing temperatures. The results are shown in Fig. 10. IV. DISCUSSION
Within the scatter of experimental data, the rate of resistance The permissible operating temperature in electrical connec-
rise across the Al-Cu interface and thickness (x) of the tioas is generally within the range 100-150°C. However, it

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BRAUNOVIC AND ALEXANDROV: INTERMETALLIC COMPOUNDS AT ALUMINUM-TO-COPPER ELECTRICAL INTERFACES 83

The formation of the intermetallic phases has an extremely

detrimental effect on the electrical resistance as manifested by
dramatic increases in the contact resistance. A direct conse-
3
quence of increased resistance is heating of the contact, which
will result in an increased rate of formation of intermetallic
phases and also other degradation processes such as creep,
stress relaxation, fretting, oxidation, corrosion, etc.
The resistivity of the intermetallic layers in the aluminum-
to-copper bimetallic joints can be calculated from weighted
averages of resistors in series by the following expression
n w

where A is the cross-sectional area of the bimetallic joint;

and z i are the resistivity and the thickness of each of the
components. Hence, the resistivity of the total intermetallic
layer in aluminum-to-copperbimetallic joints can be expressed
as

where xt is the thickness of the total intermetallic layer

(microns); PAI 2.4 pocm and pcU 2.0 pRcm are
the resistivities of aluminum and copper, respectively;
(D X,); D 0.3 cm is the spacing between the potential
probes. Hence, the calculated value of the resistivity of the
total intermetallic layer in A1-Cu heat-treated solid-phase
joints is 18.5 pRcm.
Fig. 11. The calculated thicknesses of the intermetallic phases formed in The values of resistivity for the individual phases range
AI-CU bimetallic joints following diffusion annealing in a fumace and by an between 8 and 14.2 pRcm (Table I). Hence, the observed
electrical current for different times at 100, 150, and 200" C.
difference is beyond the experimental error indicating that
there are additional contributions to the total resistivity.
should be pointed out that temperatures of 200°C and above Although a detailed explanation for the observed difference
are often observed in electrical connections when operating is beyond the scope of this work, it is believed that these
under network overload conditions. The question immediately contributions can be attributed to porosity, cracking, grain
arises whether the formation of intermetallic phases within this size changes and increased dislocation density in the diffusion
temperature range is sufficiently fast to produce an appreciable zone. These defects constrict the current flow across the
effect on the performance of a connector that otherwise interface and thus considerably reduce the effective contact
conforms to the requirements generally determined by the area ( A ) . As a result, the resistivity of the total intermetallic
existing standards. layer increases. Hence, further investigations are in progress
The results of numerous studies showed that the mechanical in to elucidate the observed difference.
properties of aluminum-copper and copper-tin are strongly The effect of electrical current on the formation and growth
affected by the presence of the intermetallics when their of intermetallic phases deserves more attention since the elec-
thickness at the interface reaches the critical value of 2 pm. At trical connections are constantly under the action of electric
this thickness, the interface between the two metals in contact current. From the results presented it is clear that complex
becomes brittle, thus making the interface more highly porous structural processes occur at the contact interface during the
and more susceptible to adverse environmental effects due to action of the electrical current, as a result of which the mode
the generation of numerous fissures in the interdiffusion layer and kinetics of formation and growth of the intermetallics
[2i1 ~41. is significantly altered. Specification of the exact mechanism
Using the experimentally found values of the activation responsible for the observed effect is difficult to envisage
energies (Fig. 4), the thicknesses of the intermetallic layers at this point since the present results are not sufficiently
formed in aluminumxopper bimetallic joints diffusion an- detailed. Nevertheless, some plausible explanations can be put
nealed in a fumace and by an electrical current for different forward.
time intervals at 100, 150, and 200°C are shown in Fig. 1 1 . One possibility is that the observed effect might be asso-
The growth kinetics in diffusion annealed samples in a ciated with the materials transport by electromigration [9]. It
furnace at 100°C is relatively slow. However, at 150 and is now well established that in electromigration the material
200"C, the rate of intermetallic growth is appreciable. On transport occurs via interaction between the atoms of a con-
the other hand, the growth kinetics, in samples treated by an ductor and a high density current of the order of 103-105
electrical current, is considerably faster at all temperatures. k m 2 . On the other hand, electromigration is not expected

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 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON COMPONENTS, PACKAGING, AND MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY-PART A, VOL. NO. MARCH 1994

under the low-current densities or ac conditions. Hence, since In summary it can be stated that electrical current exerts a
in the present work, ac current of comparatively low density pronounced effect on the morphology of the Al-Cu bimetallic
lo3 A/cm2) was used, electromigration alone is unlikely solid-phase joints, which, in tum, can dramatically affect the
to be the operating mechanism responsible for the observed current transfer across the contact interface and thus their
accelerated formation of the intermetallic phases in electrically reliability in electrical installations.
heat-treated Al-Cu, bimetallic joints.
An alternative is that accelerated formation of the inter-
metallic phases is a result of an enhanced diffusion of some
species, most probably copper. The enhancement may result V. CONCLUSIONS
from the concentration of vacancies and interstitials exceeding 1) The results show that the formation and growth of
their respective equilibrium values, thus increasing proportion- intermetallic phases in aluminum-to-copperbimetallic friction-
ally the contributions from the vacancies and interstadials to welded joints a pronounced effect on their mechanical and
the diffusion rates. electrical integrity.
Indeed, an extensive experimental and theoretical work 2) The deleterious effect of intermetallic phases is mani-
in the general area of the behavior of irradiated materials fested by an increased brittleness of the contact interface.
showed that the atomic mobilities can be increased under 3) The formation of intermetallic phases induce significant
ion irradiation by many orders of magnitude. This, although increase in contact resistance which is found to increase
being a rather attractive possibility, is unlikely since it is linearly with the thickness of the intermetallics formed.
inconceivable that a relatively low density current can produce 4) The intermetallic phases can form relatively rapidly
marked changes in the vacancy and interstitial concentrations at temperatures generally accepted as normal operating and
as in the case of irradiated materials. overload temperatures for the connectors on the network.
Another possible mechanism is that accelerated diffusion oc- 5) The presence of an electrical field greatly accelerates
curs via some short-circuit diffusing paths rather than through the kinetics of formation of intermetallic phases and alters
the lattice. Such short diffusion paths, called “pipe diffusion,” significantly their morphology.
can be dislocations, grain and subgrain boundaries. Diffusion
along these paths is found to be considerably faster (several
orders of magnitude) than diffusion of the same species ACKNOWLEDGMENT
through the lattice [lo].
The authors wish to express their thanks to A. Joly, J.
If the “pipe diffusion” is the operating mechanism, then
Larouche, P. Dufresne, and J. St-Onge for the technical
the kinetics of the intermetallic phase formation and growth
assistance and successful execution of this work.
leads to the conclusion that the mobility of diffusing species,
probably copper, is much greater in the presence of an electric
field than in the temperature gradient. Hence, it is believed REFERENCES
that interaction between the applied electric field and lattice
[I] C. R. Dixon and F. G. Nelson, “The effect of elevated temperature
defects notably dislocations and grain boundaries, enhance on flash-welded aluminum-copper joints,” Trans. AIEE /I, vol. 78, pp.
the migration of the diffusing species along these short- 4 9 1 4 9 5 , 1960.
circuit diffusion paths and thus accelerate the formation of [2] E. R. Wallach and G. J. Davis, “Mechanical properties of aluminum-
copper solid-phase welds,” Metals Tech.. pp. 183-190, Apr. 1977.
the intermetallics. [3] “Joint resistance and current paths in heat-treated alu-
The absence of certain phases, in samples heat-treated by an minudcopper solid-state welds,” Metals Sci.. pp. 97-102, Mar.
electrical current, can be attributed to the increased incubation 1977.
[4] D. M. Rabkin, V. R. Ryabov, A. V. Lozovskaya, and V. A. Dovzhenko,
time of some phases caused by the presence of an electrical “Preparation and properties of copper-aluminum intermetallic com-
field. In other words, the growth of these phases from their pounds,” Sov. Powder Metall. Ceram., no. 8, (92), pp. 695-700, 1970.
[5] M. M. Nakamura, Y. Yonezawa, T. Nakanishi, and K. Kondo, “Dura-
critical nuclei is suppressed by diffusion interaction with the bility of AI-Cu hot-pressure welding joints,” Wire J., pp. 71-78, Apr.
critical nuclei of neighboring phases having greater diffusion 1977.
permeability This agrees well with the results of the study [6] J. A. Rayne and C. L. Bauer, “Effect of intermetallic phase formation
on electrical and mechanical properties of flash-welded AI-Cu couples,”
dealing with the effect of electrical current on the formation in Proc. 5th Bolton Landing Con$ Weldments, General Electric, 1979,
and growth of intermetallic phases in AI-Au system [12] pp. 353-363.
where it was shown that electrical current can accelerate or [7] C. L. Bauer and G. G. Lessmann, “Metal-Joining Methods,” Rev.
Materials Sci., vol. 6 , pp. 361-387, 1976.
suppress the growth of certain phases. [8] R. Timsit, “Electrical connectihility of aluminum wire,” CEA Report
It is obvious that further studies are needed to elucidate the 76-19, pp. 84-89, 1985.
[9] H. B. Huntington, “Electromigration in metals,” in Diffusion in Solids:
exact nature of the observed effect of an electric current on Recent Developments, A. S. Nowick and J. J. Burton, Eds. New York:
the kinetics of formation and growth of intermetallic phases in Academic, 1974. ch. 6.
Al-Cu bimetallic welded joints. This is of particular interest [lo] N. Gjosten, D@sion, ASM, 1973, p. 241.
[ l l ] A. M. Gusak and K. P. Gurov, “Kinetics of phase formation in a
since there is mounting evidence indicating that mechanical diffusion zone during interdiffusion. Phase formation in an electric
properties such as creep, stress relaxation, flow stress and field,” Phys. Metal. Metallography, vol. 53, no. 5, p. 12, 1982.
also recrystallization, recovery and.grain growth can be sig- [12] V. N. Pimenov, K. P. Gurov, K. I. Khurdyakov, S. S. Dol’nikov, R.
A. Milievskii. V. S. Khlomov, and Yu. G. Miller, “Effect of electrical
nificantly altered and the structure changed by the action of current on the phase transformation in the diffusion layer,” Fiz. Khim.
electrical current. ‘Obrabotki Materialov, p. 10”1,?7978(in Russian).

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BRAUNOVIC AND ALEXANDROV: INTERMETALLIC COMPOUNDS AT ALUMINUM-TO-COPPER ELECTRICAL INTERFACES

M. BraunoviC (SM'9.3) received the Dipl. Ing. N. Alexandmv received the B.S. degree in engi-
degree in technical physics form the University of neering from the Higher Institute of Mechanical and
Belgrade, Belgrade, Yugoslavia, in 1962. and the M. electrical Engineering, Sofia. Bulgaria. in
Met. and Ph.D. degrees in physical metallurgy from From 196.5 to 1979 he was working for different
the University of Sheffield, England. in 1967 and companies in Bulgaria and Crechoslovakia, where
1969, respectively. he supervised the work in the field of welding.
He joined the Institute of Metallurgy, Zenica, design, and industrial robotic applications. From
Yugoslavia, in 1962, where he was working in to he was associated with the Canadian
materials science research until 1965. From 1965 Welding Institute, Varennas, and in 1983 he joined
to 1969 he was asaociated with the Department of IREQ, Hydro-Quebec Research Institute. his main
Metallurgy, University of Sheffield. and from 1969 areas of activity are resistance welding. electrical
to 1971 he was associated with the Department of Mines and Metallurgy. contacts, robotics, and amorphous metals applications.
Lava1 University, Quebec, Canada. he joined IREQ in 1971, where he is Mr. Alexandrov has 22 inventions related to automation and improvement
presently a Senior Member of the scientific staff. His principal areas or olelectrical resistance welding. He also has a number of patents on amorphous
research are surface and interface phenomena in solids, phenomena related metal transformers and has presented a number of scientific papers at
to electrical contacts, shape-memory materials, and tribology. international conferences in the field of welding.
Dr. Braunovit has presented many papers at various intcmational confer-
ences and has published a large number of papers in the of his scientific
interests, including contributions to encyclopedias and books. He was the
Chairperson of the 15th International Conference on Electrical Contacts, held
in Montreal, August 2&24, 1990. he is a member of the American Society
for Physics, the American Society for Metals, the Materials Research society,
the Planetary Society, and the New York Academy of Sciences.

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