Modeling and experimental study of Al-Cu alloy sand casting for circuit breaker

Aluminum is a light metal with good electrical conductivity and widely applied for electrical devices. One of its application is the circuit breaker component. The 2xxx series of aluminum alloy has a copper alloying element which increases its mechanical properties and improves quality of electrical conductivity. This research aims to obtain the best gating system design of the circuit breaker mold by ANSYS modeling. This research also is subject to measure the influence of Cu alloying to the rate of electrical conductivity, strength, and hardness in aluminum alloys for circuit breaker application by experimental working. Aluminum is alloyed with variations of 1; 2; 3; 4; and 5% copper addition. Modeling of thermal analysis and structural analysis was calculated by ANSYS Mechanical APDL with a finite element method to find the best design for the sand casting experiments. Chemical composition, metallography, brinnel hardness, tensile, XRD, and electrical conductivity tests were conducted in this study. The highest strength is 59.50 MPa was acquired on Al - 3% Cu while the lowest strength is 37.43 MPa was on Al - 1% Cu alloy. The peak of hardness 48.70 HBN could be drawn at Al - 4% Cu. In the other hand, the dip of it was Al 1% Cu of 25.5 HBN. The last variable, conductivity, has the highest amount as of Al-5C, alloys with a value of 12.88 S / M, which is found on Al-1Cu with a value of 9.30 S/m.