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Analysis of all aluminum conductor (AAC) and all aluminum alloy conductor
(AAAC)
Conference Paper · December 2004
DOI: 10.1109/TENCON.2004.1414794 · Source: IEEE Xplore
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Analysis of All Aluminum Conductor (AAC)
and All Aluminum Alloy Conductor (AAAC)
Siti Norasmah Mohtar, Student Member, IEEE, Md Noah Jamal and Marizan Sulaiman
cross section area, A per unit length, of each cable. From
International Annealed Copper Standard (IACS), the
Abstract-- The demand of electricity is ever increasing and conductivity value for pure Al is 61% [3] while the
gives a high pressure on the existing transmission network. conductivity value of Al alloy is 53%-54% [4]. From these
With the existing conductor, there will be more losses occur in two values, it shows that the higher resistance value in alloy.
All Aluminum Alloy Conductor (AAAC), compared to All Thus, only small current transmitted in the conductor
Aluminum Conductor (AAC). To overcome this problem,
compared to pure Al. The composition of Al alloy 6101 is
conductor as transmission line with capability to conduct more
current is needed. Aluminum is a good current conductor; low the combination of Al, Magnesium (Mg) and Silicon (Si)
in cost and lighter weight compare to copper. These advantages elements. The existence of other elements can be related to
enhance the usage of aluminum conductor as overhead line of the impurities, which cause the increment of resistance value
transmission system. But the weakness is on mechanical part, in the materials of the conductor.
which is not practical to ambient condition. This paper focuses The changes of current carrying mostly depend on
on the factors that influence the conductivity and current temperature difference in the conductor. Overhead cables
carrying capacity of aluminum conductor. From the with low thermal conduction will affect the current carrying
metallographic and Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) capacity because of current allowance is proportional to
analysis, it will show the reason why the conductivity property
temperature rise due to factors of ambient temperature and
of AAAC is higher than AAC. Some experimental results that
verify the theoretical values are presented. also heat dissipation during current transmitting. The current
rating is dependent on the way the heat is transmitted
through the cable surface and then dissipated to the
Index Terms—Aluminum conductor, Conductivity,
surroundings.
Impurities, Metallurgraphy, Overhead lines, Second Phase,
Thermal Resistance, Transmission Electron Microscope
The law of the heat flow is very similar to Ohm’s law [5].
(TEM). Ohm’s law states that:
1. INTRODUCTION V
R ( ) (3)
A luminum based for overhead lines like All Aluminum
Conductor (AAC) is favorably used compared to
copper because of several factors such as price, weight
I
Where as, in calculating the losses in cable is related to
and availability. In fact, strength to weight ratio of AAC has thermal resistance that can be identify as:
to improve because this results in smaller sags, hence shorter T
towers. Some modifications have been done therefore, All TR
H
K.m Watt (4)
Aluminum Alloy Conductor (AAAC) and Aluminum
Conductor Steel Reinforced (ACSR) is produce. Continuous
Thermal resistance, TR is defined as the temperature
effort must be done to overcome the small conductivity
difference, T in Kelvin between opposite faces of a meter
value in both AAAC and ACSR conductor.
cube of material caused by 1 Watt of heat transfer, H.
2. CONDUCTIVITY AND CURRENT CARRYING CAPACITY
Conductivity is defined as the capability of materials to 3. RESULT
transfer an electric current. It is inversely proportional to the
resistivity of the materials. Conductivity and resistivity value 3.1 Conductivity
is shown in (1) and (2) as below [3]:
The first test is on the conductivity value of AAC and
1
(1) AAAC conductor. It is done to identify the resistivity value
.m
1
of conductor in a normal condition with temperature 200C.
Length of conductor in this test is 4m. The result of this test
RA
. (2) is shown in Table 1 and 2.
m
Equation (2) shows that the resistivity value is proportional
to the resistance value of the material and varies with the
0-7803-8560-8/04/$20.00©2004IEEE
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0-7803-8560-8/04/$20.00©2004IEEE
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410
alloy cable is the main factor this cable is usually used to
transmit the power in the transmission system.
Table 1: Conductivity value of AAC Grade EC 1350
1
D Te R RA 3.3 Hardness
ia m ( )
(m p x10-8 x106
(0 This test done only to define the ability of material
m) ( .m) ( .m)-1
C resists surface abrasion. It is to ensure the load applied
3.6 23. 0.01 2.799 35.725
during maintenance process did not crack the materials. For
3.6 23. 0.01 2.799 35.725 most metallic alloys tensile strength is approximately
2.9 22. 0.016 2.853 35.044 proportional to hardness though there is no fundamental
52.5 425. 70.02 62.699 37.040 connection between them other than in general stiffness of
2.3 1
25. 2
0.02 8
3.012 33.198 the material.
3 9 2
Table 5: Hardness value of AAC
Table 2: Conductivity value of AAAC Grade EC 6101 Sa
D Te R R 1 p
1
ia m ( ) A
( p x106 2
m ( 0
x10 -8 ( .m)-1 3
m2.9 25. 0.018 3.075 32.5128
52.9 3
24. 0.019 7
3.137 31.8728
2.5 5
25. 0.024 5
2.9452 33.9533 Table 6: Hardness value of
The above result shows that, AAAC
0
2.3 3
25. 0.027 2.8044 35.6580 the conductivity value of AAC
0 3 is in average of 35.346 while
Sam Hardness
the mean of AAAC is 33.499 .
ple
It is clearly shown that the AA
1 63.2 HRT
conductivity value of AAC 2 63.4 HRT
is higher than the conductivity 3 63.5 HRT
of AAAC. Therefore, high
4 11 HRB
resistance in cable will caused
to losses.
Similarly result is
gathered in this hardness
3.2 Tensile Strength test with the result on Part
C (Tensile Strength and
The second test is the Elongation).
measurement of tensile
strength and percentage of
3.4 Metallographic
elongation. The objective of
this test is to determine the
cable potential to attain This figure 1 and 2 is
environment forces like determined through an
pressure and wind to reduce observation from Optical
sagging. The higher forces Microscope with a
the cable can attain, the last resolution of 1x103 times.
longer it will transfer
current through it without
break up. The result of this
test is shown in Table 3 and
4.
Table 3: Tensile strength and
the percentage of elongation
of AAC
Diameter Force Elongation
size (N) %
(mm)
3.6 1899.4 7.5
2.95 3
1102.0 2.5
2.5 1
928.64 2.0
2.3 7
670.12 1.0
3
Second phase
3
410
Table 4: Tensile strength and elongation for AAAC.
Diameter Force Elongation
size (N) %
(mm)
2.95 2113.4 8.5
2.9 61936.8 5.0
2.5 7
989.40 2.5
2.3 7
819.57 2.0
3
Figure 1: Microstructure
From the table 3 and of pure aluminum.
4 that shows the value Etched with 1% HF
of tensile strength for acid.
AAC and AAAC. Higher
tensile strength is
obtained from AAAC
cable. This properties
own by the
3
411
Second phase
Second phase
Al matrix
Figure 2: Microstructure of aluminum alloy showing that is
being etched with1% HF acid Figure 3: Bright field transmission electron micrograph
image of pure aluminum.
From Figure 1 and 2, it is shown that for pure Al, the path
for the current to transmit is easier compared to Al alloy that
need to going through more resistance. This is cause by the
present of second phase, which the number of it in alloy is
Second
larger than pure Al. Although sample of Al is said pure,
phase
there also present some second phase because this metal is
only 99.95% to 99.98% pure [3]. The elements that labeled
as second phases that exist are Oxygen and also Si [2].
While in Al alloy 6101, it has an addition of Mg element.
Thus, through this experiment it is shown that the present of
Al matrix
second phases will reduce the value of current conductivity
in the material.
Besides that, the higher impurities in alloy will increase
the strength of the conductor [1] and that will make the cable
is last longer in ambient condition. This situation occurs
because the bonding among them is stronger and more
energy needed to break it.
Figure 4: Bright field transmission electron micrograph
showing second phase in the matrix of aluminum phase.
3.5 Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM)
In this test, the electron is passing through the sample to 4. CONCLUSION
get the internal surface configuration with higher resolution This paper shows the result that is obtained from the
(1x106 times) compared to metallurgraphy test. physical analysis such as conductivity, tensile strength and
Through observation of this test, it is shows the other elongation and also hardness. While the structure analyses
phases in the matrix of aluminum phase in Figure 3. The are consisting of metallurgraphy and also Transmission
result is similar with result in Metallurgraphy test as shown Electron Microscope (TEM) in order to find out the factor
above. The surface for Al sample is clearer compared to Al that influence the conductivity value of AAAC compared to
alloy. A clear path in pure Al shows a great capability of AAC. Therefore, through this paper the relation of both
current conduction. analyses are clearly highlighted.
In Figure 4, the amount of second phases formed is higher From the experiments that have been done, the
compared to pure aluminum (Figure 3). The bigger number conductivity shows that the bigger the diameter, the more
of second phases, the higher will be the resistance value of current will be transferred through it. For the second test, it
each conductor. This is because the increment number of clearly shows that AAAC is stronger and the percentage of
constraint to face while the current is transmitted in the elongation is larger. From this result, AAC shows potential
conductor. As state above, the advantages of impurities that to break easily with only small force applied. Most of the
present in the conductor will provide a stronger conductor. result of the test that is going to conduct will show that AAC
having higher conductivity although it is not as good as
AAAC in mechanical strength while expose to ambient
condition.
This paper shows the relations between conductivity value
and the existence of second phases or impurities in Al based
conductor that is trace by metallurgraphy and TEM analysis.
From both experiments, it can be conclude that one of the
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412
factors that influence the conductivity value is the present of
impurities in the metal or conductor. Impurities are some
kind of resistance or constraint that the current need to cope
with while transmitting current in the transmission line.
Besides that, from these test it shows the existence of grain
boundaries between the pure Al matrix and Al alloy.
Therefore, it offers an appreciable barrier to current flow
[6]. Besides that, the present of these second phases in Al
alloy do give some advantages. The properties of higher
strength to weight ratio of Al alloy make it more reliable
because of it capability to withstand in higher wind pressure
and because of that reason, the usage of it is still remain.
5. REFERENCES
[1] Raymond A. Higgins, Butterworth Heinemann, “The
Properties of Engineering materials”, 2nd Edition
(1994)
[2] L.F. Mondolfo, “Aluminum Alloys: Properties And
Structure” Butterworth & Co (Publisher) Ltd, (1976)
[3] J Kenneth Gillet, Micheal M. Suba, “ Electrical Wire
Handbook” , The Wire Association International
(1983)
[4] A R Petterson and W Bronnval, “ Al 59 - A Swedish For
Overhead Aluminum Alloy conductors with 59%
conductivity (IACS)” Swedish State Power Board
Sweden
[5] BICC Cables and edited by: G.F.Moore “Electric Cables
Handbook” 3rd Edition Blackwell Science.
[6] W.J. Carr, Jr. “AC Loss and Macroscopic theory of
superconductors” Second Edition, Taylor & Francis Inc.
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