Microstructures and Mechanical Properties of Al-2Fe-xCo Ternary Alloys with High Thermal Conductivity

The microstructures, mechanical properties, and thermal conductivity (TC) of Al-2Fe-xCo (x = 0~0.8) alloys in as-cast, homogeneous annealed, and cool rolled states are systematically studied. Results indicate that appropriate Co modification (x ≤ 0.5) simultaneously improves the thermal and mechanical properties of as-cast Al-2Fe alloys. The improvement of TC is attributed to ameliorating the morphology of primary Al₃Fe phases from needles to short rods and fine particles, which decreases the scattering probability of free electrons during the electronic transmission. However, further increasing the Co content (x = 0.8) decreases the TC due to the formation of a coarse plate-like Al₂FeCo phase. Besides, the thermal conductivity of annealed Al-2Fe-xCo alloys is higher than that of as-cast alloys because of the elimination of lattice defects and spheroidization of Al₃Fe phases. After cool rolling with 80 % deformation, thermal conductivity of alloys slightly increases due to the breaking down of Al₂FeCo phases. The rolled Al-2Fe-0.3Co alloy exhibits the highest thermal conductivity, which is about 225 W/(m·K), approximately 11 % higher than the as-cast Al-2Fe sample. The ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and elongation (EL) of as-cast Al-2Fe-0.5Co (UTS: 138 MPa; EL: 22.0 %) are increased by 35 % and 69 %, respectively, compared with those of unmodified alloy (UTS: 102 MPa; EL: 13.0 %).