Functionally Graded Materials: Continuous Casting and Forming of Electric Copper Conductors

在过去几十年中，技术产品的电气化明显增加。与对长寿命和高性能的需求相结合，单片金属结构的潜力在很大程度上被耗尽。因此，出现了重要的学术和工业活动，重点是将混合材料结构用于电气应用。不仅杂化材料的制造本身是一个具有挑战性的问题。它需要对材料性能演变和技术关系的跨过程理解。本项目建议书旨在研究铜导电体制造的工艺路线。特别是，该项目专注于功能梯度铜材料的开发，其特点是针对电气应用的特定要求优化了局部适应的冶金行为。最初的连续铸造、随后的挤压和最终的拉丝的工艺路线代表了用于制造铜导体的经济的生产顺序，该铜导体一方面表现出优异的导电性，另一方面表现出相对高的强度。这种复杂的性能特征是由金属产品横截面上的材料梯度产生的。产品外部区域的纯铜基材与内部区域的铜锌合金材料之间的过渡是连续的。在该研究项目的框架内，开发了一种资源有效的功能梯度材料制造方法。科学方法基于理论、实验和数值技术。目标具有挑战性，所产生的结果改变了目前技术可能性的局限性。

A rising electrification of technical products was apparent during the last decades. In combination with the demand for a long lifetime and high performance, the potentials of monolithic metallic structures are largely exhausted. Therefore, important academic and industrial activities arose, which focus on the usage of hybrid material structures for electric applications. Not only the fabrication of hybrid materials itself is a challenging issue. It requires a cross-process understanding of material properties evolution and technological relationships. The present project proposal aims at the investigation of the process route for the fabrication of electric copper conductors. In particular, the project focuses on the development of functionally graded copper materials, which feature locally adapted metallurgical behavior optimized for the specific requirements of electrical applications. The process route of initial continuous casting, subsequent extrusion and final wire drawing represents an economic production sequence for the fabrication of copper conductors, which exhibit an excellent electrical conductivity on the one hand and a comparatively high strength on the other hand. This complex properties character is generated by a material gradient over the cross-section of the metallic product. The transition between the pure copper base material in the outer region and copper zinc alloyed material in the inner area of the product is continuous. Within the framework of the research project, a methodology is developed for the resource-efficient fabrication of functionally graded materials. The scientific approach is based on theoretical, experimental and numerical techniques. The objectives are challenging and the results generated shift the present limitations of the technical possibilities.