A comparative study was carried out among three commercial purity aluminums with different levels of purity: AA1100 (99.00%), AA1050 (99.50%) and AA1070 (99.70%), produced on an industrial scale by Direct Chill (DC) process, and super pure aluminum, AA1199 (99.995%) produced in the laboratory. Several techniques of microstructural analysis were used: conventional optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, optical microscopy with polarized light, measurements of electrical conductivity and Vickers hardness. The three commercial purity aluminums showed an increase in work hardening and a decrease in electrical conductivity as the impurity content increased.
Aluminum; homogenization; hot rolling; work hardening; characterization
