Thermal and electrical conductivities in Al-based complex metallic alloys

Abstract

A study is reported of the heat transport of AlPd(Mn, Fe, Co, Rh) complex metallic alloys that belong to an interesting class of Al-based alloys characterized by giant unit cells with quasicrystal-like cluster substructure. The electrical and thermal conductivity were investigated in the temperature range 8–300 K, in order to see how the exceptional structural complexity and the coexistence of two competing physical length scales affect the transport properties of these materials. The alloys have electrical conductivity typical of metallic alloys, and low thermal conductivity which is at room temperature comparable to that of thermal insulators, e.g. amorphous SiO₂ and Zr/YO₂ ceramics.

Keywords:

• aluminium alloys
• electrical conductivity
• thermal transport

Acknowledgements

This work was done within the activities of the 6th Framework EU Network of Excellence “Complex Metallic Alloys” Contract No. NMP3–CT–2005–500140, and has been supported in part by the Ministry of Science, Education and Sports of the Republic of Croatia through the Research Projects No. 035–0352828–2848 and No. 177–0352826–0478.