The influence of severe plastic deformation processes on electrical conductivity of commercially pure aluminium and 5483 aluminium alloy

Commercially pure aluminium 1050 and aluminium alloy 5483 were processed by Severe Plastic Deformation processes, i.e. Equal Channel Angular Pressing and Hydrostatic Extrusion in various configurations. Electrical conductivity and Vicker's microhardness were measured for as-received and deformed materials. Microstructure was investigated using Focused Ion Beam Microscopy and Transmission Electron Microscopy for coarse grained and deformed materials, respectively. The Severe Plastic Deformation processes bring about a significant grain size reduction, which was accompanied by an increase in microhardness. The results have shown that the grain size reduction below 1 μm has a negligible impact on electrical properties in comparison to alloying elements, which considerably impair the electrical conductivity.