Strengthening mechanism and yield strength prediction of cold-drawn commercially pure aluminum wire

Abstract

Commercially pure aluminum is a widely used conductive material in the field of overhead transmission. Yield strength, which is closely related to the reliability of conductive material in service, is an important parameter of mechanical property. Aluminum wire, which is widely used as the outer layer of steel core aluminum strand, is usually prepared by cold-drawing process. With the increase of area reduction, the strength of aluminum wire increases continuously and thus yield strength prediction becomes a very important scientific issue based on the strengthening mechanism analysis. In this paper, the contributions of grain refinement and hard texture to the yield strength were calculated by characterizing the microstructure of aluminum wire with different area reductions. Subsequently, the yield strength prediction model was set up by means of the quantitative calculation and function fitting of grain refinement strengthening and texture strengthening. By using this model, the yield strength of aluminum wire can be well predicted based on the average grain size of initial aluminum rod and this model can also guide the design and production of aluminum wire in industry field.