Effect of porosity and metallic insertions on

electrical resistivity of A2011 aluminium alloy

S. I. Bakhtiyarov and R. A. Overfelt

A rotational, contactless inductive measurement technique has been used to determine the effect of pores and
metallic insertions on the electrical resistivity of A2011 aluminium alloy at different temperatures. It is shown that
the electrical resistivity increases with the total volume of pores, and is also dependent on the location and
orientation of pores. Additional energy losses were found on the contact surfaces between sample and
insertions. MST/5933
Keywords: Electrical resistivity, Thermal conductivity, Porosity, Aluminium alloys, Liquid metals

The authors are in the Materials Processing Center, 202 Ross Hall, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Auburn University,
AL 36849 – 5341, USA (sayavurb@eng.auburn.edu). Manuscript received 5 August 2003; accepted 4 February 2004.
# 2004 IoM Communications Ltd. Published by Maney for the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining.

wide range of temperatures is shown in Fig. 1. A computer

Introduction
Information on the electrical resistivity of molten alloys is
especially important in many metallurgical processes such
as electroslag remelting, electromagnetic stirring in con-
tinuous casting, and induction melting in foundries. The
electrical resistivity of the metals and alloys in both solid
and liquid phases is affected by porosity formations and
some immiscible inclusions. From a practical point of view,
it is crucial to know the variation in electrical resistivity with
pores and inclusions; however, there have been no studies
reported in this area.
Recently, Bakhtiyarov and Overfelt1,2 developed a rota-
tional, contactless, inductive measurement technique to mea-
sure both the viscosity and the electrical conductivity of
metals and alloys over wide temperature ranges. Preliminary
tests conducted with low melting point metals (lead and tin)
and alloys (LMA – 158 and Pb/Sn binary systems) showed
good agreement with data from the literature. This technique
requires a reliable relationship between the electrical resis-
tivity of the metal sample and the measured damping torque
values. Braunbeck3 proposed the following relationship
between the opposing mechanical torque T and electric
conductivity se of a rotating liquid specimen in a dc external
magnetic field of strength B
p p 1 2
T~ se vLR4 B2 { s vLR6 B4 : : : : : (1)
4 192 g e
where L and R are length and radius of the specimen, res-
pectively; v is the angular velocity of the rotating magnetic
field; and g is the viscosity of the liquid specimen. The mag-
netic strength and radius of the specimen can be selected so
that the second term in equation (1) becomes negligibly
small compared with the first term for measurements on
metals with unknown viscosity.4
The objective of this paper is to study the effect of
porosity formation and non-ferrous inclusions on the
electrical resistivity of A2011 aluminium alloy obtained
by direct measurements using the rotational technique (with
a cylindrical metal sample rotating in a two pole dc mag-
netic field) over wide ranges of temperature.
controlled Brookfield rheometer Model DV – III was used
to provide constant rotational speed to the metal sample
and to measure the torque. This rheometer enables torque
measurements from 0 to 673.7 dyne cm at constant speeds
from 0 to 250 rev min21 in 0.1 rev min21 increments. The
rheometer has an RS232 serial port for communi-
cation with a local computer.
The temperature of the sample was characterized remotely
by a portable two colour infrared thermometer M90
(Mikron) focused into a hole in the bottom of the crucible
assembly since thermocouple leads could not be inserted
into the rotating samples. Focusing into the hole in the
crucible bottom eliminated spurious temperature data from
extraneous reflections into the infrared thermometer from
the optical heaters. The infrared thermometer output was
calibrated to actual temperature by comparing against ther-
mocouple data using a dummy load with 0.25% accuracy.
The thermometer output was connected to computer and
the temperature data obtained were synchronised with data
for measured torque and angular velocity of the crucible.
Metal samples (19.05 mm diameter and 38.1 mm length)
for testing were inserted into cylindrical high purity alumina
crucibles with a flat bottom. The extruded alumina crucibles
(19.05 mm inner diameter and 152.4 mm length) were
attached to the spindle of the rheometer through a specially

Experimental apparatus and procedures

A schematic diagram of the experimental apparatus to 1 Experimental apparatus used for electrical resistivity
measure electrical resistivity of metals and alloys over a measurements of solid and molten metals

790 Materials Science and Technology June 2004 Vol. 20 DOI 10.1179/026708304225016752
 Bakhtiyarov and Overfelt Effect of porosity and metallic insertions on resistivity of A2011 Al alloy 791

2 Diagram of sample – magnetic field-optical furnace 3 Variation of torque with porosity orientation for A2011
arrangement and heating energy focus action alloy at T~23uC, B~0.1 T, and v~1.05 s21

applications. Two sets of experiments were conducted. In

designed coupler to provide concentricity to the rotating
shaft, crucible and sample. The same sample diameter was
maintained for each set of tests. The rotational technique of
this geometry is exposed to the end effects in the crucible.
This effect was eliminated in two experiments by using
different sample heights (25.4 mm and 38.1 mm) in the
crucible at the same angular speed.
Two quartz infrared line heating elements (2 kW each)
housed in elliptical cast aluminium frames were used to heat
the samples in the experiments. The heated length of the
chamber was 167 mm. The elliptical reflectors concentrated
the infrared energy to the crucible surface (Fig. 2). Copper
tube connections are provided for inlet and outlet flow of
water to cool the lamp reflector bodies. Tap water at 15uC
and 600 kPa was supplied to cool the unit.
The magnetic field was produced by two neodymium –
iron permanent magnets. A Hall effect gaussmeter was used
to measure the magnetic field strength. The gaussmeter
provided dc and AC field readings from ¡1025 to ¡2 T
with 0.1% resolution. Changing the separation between the
magnets allowed one to obtain magnetic fields of different
magnitudes. Contour mapping of the magnetic field strength
revealed that the magnetic induction varied in both vertical
and horizontal directions. It is estimated that the magnetic
induction over the test sample varied ¡10% in the vertical
direction and ¡7% in the horizontal direction around its
average value. Neither the coupling system nor the alumina
crucible had measurable effects on the applied magnetic
field.
Results and discussion
The test sample used was A2011 aluminium alloy Al –
0.4Si – 0.7Fe – 6Cu – 0.3Zn (wt-%), popular in commercial
Table 1 Orientation and total volume of pores
Diameter of Volume
Orientation each pore, of sample, Total volume
of pores cm cm3 of pores, cm3 Porosity
the first set of experiments cylindrical holes of 2.08 mm
diameter were drilled through the samples in longitudinal or
traversal directions to study the influence of the orientation
of porosity formation on electrical resistivity. In the second
set of experiments a longitudinal cylindrical hole of 4.00 mm
diameter was drilled through the sample. The orientation
and total hole volume are presented in Table 1. The experi-
ments were conducted with open pores, and with pores filled
by conductive material (A2011 alloy, In, or Cu).
The experimental results were compared with simulations
based on the mass amount of each component. Electrical
resistivity of the two component sample was estimated by
the following expression
r 1 C1 r 2 C2
r1z2 ~ z : : : : : : : : : : : (2)
100 100
where r1 and r2 are the electrical resistivities of components
1 and 2, respectively; C1 and C2 are the mass concentrations
of components 1 and 2, respectively.
Electrical resistivity of the material in the solid state as a
function of temperature was determined as
rT2 ~rT1 ½1za(T1 {T2 )
: : : : : : : : : : (3)
where rT1 and rT2 are electrical resistivity at temperatures
T1 and T2, respectively; a is the temperature coefficient of
electrical resistivity.
For materials in the liquid state the electrical resistivity
varies with temperature according to the following formula
re ~aTzb : : : : : : : : : : : : : : (4)
where a and b are temperature coefficients for the liquid
metals, T is absolute temperature in kelvin. The temperature
coefficients of the sample materials determined experimen-
tally (Table 2).
Figure 3 shows the variation of the eddy current induced
damping torque values with different pore orientations
for A2011 alloy at T~23uC, B~0.1 T, andv~1.05 s21. As
expected, the damping torque decreases with porosity.
Table 2 Temperature coefficients of test materials

None 0 10.85387 0 0 Material State a, uC21 a, mV cm K21 b, mV cm

Longitudinal 0.208 0.1294 0.011922
0.3882 0.035766 A2011 alloy Solid 0.00394 0.0145 10.7
0.6470 0.05961 Liquid … 0.0145 10.7
Transverse 0.1294 0.011922 Indium Solid 0.004331 … …
0.3882 0.035766 Liquid 0.000802 0.0255 22.2
0.6470 0.05961 Copper Solid 0.00381 … …
Longitudinal 0.400 0.4785 0.044089 Liquid … 0.0089 9. 1

Materials Science and Technology June 2004 Vol. 20

792 Bakhtiyarov and Overfelt Effect of porosity and metallic insertions on resistivity of A2011 Al alloy
4 Variation of electrical conductivity of A2011 alloy
with porosity orientation at T~23uC, B~0.1 T, and
v~1.05 s21
However, the torque values are slightly (up to 8%) higher for
longitudinally oriented holes than for transversely oriented
holes. One would assume that magnetic field induced cir-
culating eddy currents, which generate an opposing torque,
are weakened by transversal holes more than by longitudinal
holes. Formula (3) was used to estimate the electrical con-
ductivity (reciprocal of the electrical resistivity) of the
samples, and the results are presented in Fig. 4. As seen
from this figure, the measured values of electrical conductiv-
ity are significantly lower (up to 17%) than those predicted.
However, the simulations do not consider distribution and
orientation of the pores. Hence we can conclude that the
distribution and orientation of pores is an important factor,
and any future theoretical model must take this into account.
As is known, free electrons are responsible for the elec-
trical and thermal conductivities of metals and alloys in
both solid and liquid states. Therefore, the Wiedemann-
Franz-Lorenz law can be applied to relate thermal con-
ductivity to electrical resistivity
lre pk2
~ 2 :L0 : : : : : : : : : : : : (5)
T 3e
where k is the Boltzmann constant, and e is the electron
5 Variation of thermal conductivity of A2011 alloy
with porosity orientation at T~23uC, B~0.1 T, and
v~1.05 s21
Materials Science and Technology June 2004 Vol. 20
6 Variation of electrical resistivity of A2011 alloy (with
4 mm hole) with temperature at w~0.0441, B~0.1 T,
and v~1.05 s21
charge. The constant
p2 k2
L0 ~ ~2:45|10{8 W VK {2
3e2
is the Lorenz number. The validity of this relationship has
been confirmed experimentally with high accuracy by many
researchers.528 The variation in thermal conductivity for
different porosity orientations estimated by the Wiedemann-
Franz-Lorenz law is presented in Fig. 5.
The variations in electrical resistivity and thermal con-
ductivity of an A2011 sample with 4 mm diameter long-
itudinal hole (w~0.0441) versus temperature are shown in
Figs. 6 and 7, respectively. As seen in Fig. 6, electrical
resistivity increases almost linearly with temperature. There
is good agreement between experimental results and pre-
diction using formula (3).
It is of practical and scientific interest to study the elec-
trical resistivity of immiscible alloys. We also measured the
electrical resistivity of A2011 aluminium alloy with pores
filled with indium, A2011 aluminium alloy itself, and copper.
Figures 8 and 9 show measured values of electrical resis-
tivity and thermal conductivity over a wide range of tem-
peratures for an A2011 aluminium alloy sample with 4 mm
diameter longitudinal hole (w~0.0441) filled with indium.
The results of simulations for samples with open pores and
for pores filled with indium are also shown on these figures.
As seen in Fig. 8, the electrical resistivity for the sample
7 Variation of thermal conductivity of A2011 alloy (with
4 mm hole) with temperature at w~0.0441, B~0.1 T,
and v~1.05 s21
 Bakhtiyarov and Overfelt Effect of porosity and metallic insertions on resistivity of A2011 Al alloy 793

10 Variation of electrical resistivity of A2011 alloy (with

4 mm hole filled with A2011) with temperature at
w~0.0441, B~0.1 T, and v~1.05 s21

8 Variation of electrical resistivity of A2011 alloy (with

and without indium inclusion) with temperature at
w~0.05961, B~0.1 T, and v~1.05 s21

with pores filled with indium is lower than for the sample
with open pores. Due to the phase transformation in indium
at y150uC (from solid state to liquid), a significant increase
in electrical resistivity is observed. Again, the experimental
data are lower than those predicted by formula (2), which
can be attributed to the effect of location and orientation of
indium inclusions in the A2011 sample.
One would expect that if the pores were filled with the
same material as the sample A2011 aluminium alloy, the
electrical resistivity would return to its original value for a
sample without pores. However, experiments revealed that
the electrical resistivity for samples with pores filled with the
same material is higher than the electrical resistivity of the
original sample. We suggest that there are additional energy
losses at the contact surfaces. The variations in electrical
resistivity and thermal conductivity of an A2011 sample 11 Variation of thermal conductivity of A2011 alloy (with
with longitudinal hole (w~0.0441) filled with the same 4 mm hole filled with A2011) with temperature at
metal (A2011) with temperature are shown in Figs. 10 and w~0.0441, B~0.1 T, and v~1.05 s21
11, respectively.
Figures 12 and 13 show the variation in electrical
resistivity and thermal conductivity over a wide temperature

12 Variation of electrical resistivity of A2011 alloy (with

4 mm hole filled with Cu) with temperature at w~
0.0441, B~0.1 T, and v~1.05 s21

9 Variation of thermal conductivity of A2011 alloy (with range for an A2011 aluminium alloy sample with 4 mm
and without indium inclusion) with temperature at diameter longitudinal hole (w~0.0441) filled with copper.
w~0.05961, B~0.1 T, and v~1.05 s21 As seen in Fig. 12, the electrical resistivity for this sample

Materials Science and Technology June 2004 Vol. 20

794 Bakhtiyarov and Overfelt Effect of porosity and metallic insertions on resistivity of A2011 Al alloy
13 Variation of thermal conductivity of A2011 alloy (with
4 mm hole filled with Cu) with temperature at
w~0.0441, B~0.1 T, and v~1.05 s21
(filled with copper) is higher than the predictions made by
formula (2). This can again be attributed to the effects of the
location and orientation of the copper insertions, and the
additional energy losses at the contact surfaces.
Conclusions
A simple rotational technique to measure the electrical
resistivity of molten metals has been applied to study the
effect of porosity formation and different metallic insertions
in pure A2011 aluminium alloy. The experimental results
Materials Science and Technology June 2004 Vol. 20
revealed that the location and orientation of pores and
metallic insertions had significant effects. Additional energy
losses at the contact surfaces of inclusions resulted in higher
electrical resistivity of samples with inclusions, compared to
predictions based on formula (2).
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support
received from NASA’s Space Product Development at
Marshall Space Flight Center under Cooperative Agree-
ment NCC8 – 240. The authors wish to thank former
graduate student Dr Sorin Teodorescu for participating in
the measurements.
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