O uso de anteliga Al-4B para o aumento da condutividade elétrica do alumínio líquido

Abstract

From the entire production of transformed aluminum, the manufacturing products intended for the electricity sector represents the fourth largest in tons. For the commercialization of the liquid aluminum with high conductivity for cable industry, wires and rods, aluminum master alloys have been used and studied for addition to the final product. The aluminum naturally produced presents impurity elements responsible for affecting the flow of electrons present in the bath, making the product more resistant to electricity. In response to this problem, boron is added through a master alloy which reacts with the soluble transition elements and form insoluble, precipitating and obtaining thus higher electrical conductivity. However, the objective of this study was to investigate the effect of adding different concentrations of Al-4B master alloy (% by weight) in the electrical conductivity (% IACS) of liquid aluminum. The characterization of the metal before and after the addition of Al-4B was performed using chemical analysis techniques, XRD, SEM, MO in order to assess compliance with the specifications of NBR 5118, in which the minimum conductivity of the required aluminum wires after stringing should be 61% IACS. Assays were performed in four steps with addition of the Al-4B master alloy in different quantities in Kg. The electrical conductivity measurements (% IACS) were taken after the liquid aluminum leaves the production process, after adding Al-4B to produced liquid aluminum and conductivity measurement after the liquid aluminum bear all transport conditions, considering spending time and temperature reached up into the manufacturing process of the final league. It was observed that untreated liquid aluminum have already showed, naturally, a purity around 99.45% and the range of electrical conductivity of 60.2% IACS. After treatment with master alloys Boro Aluminium there was an increase of up to 0.43% purity and 2.20% of IACS. It was demonstrated that boron in large excess, was not the option that offered the best cleaning impurities. The second step performed in this study with 7.0 kg of Al-4B was the most satisfactory in terms of conductivity, reaching the average value of 62.38%.