Electrical resistivity of an aluminium-graphite composite between 77 K and 300 K

Abstract

The electrical resistivity, ϱ, of a composite consisting of 6061 aluminium alloy containing 28 vol. % graphite (Thornel 50) fibres has been studied using temperatures, T, between 77 K and 300 K as a function of thermal annealing. These studies have been made with the electrical current parallel to the fibres. The value of ϱ decreases linearly with increasing annealing temperature. The annealing process also changes the temperature dependence of ϱ. The values of ϱ of the matrix, which depend on the annealing temperature, have been calculated from the experimental data and are compared with the estimated values of pure 6061 alumimium alloy with different temper degrees. These results indicate that the fabrication process can cause the composite electrical resistivity to be different from the theoretical estimates based on values of components.