The Effect of the Percentage of Mg on the Properties of Cu-Mg Alloys Manufactured by Horizontal Continuous Casting Process

Continuous casting processes of metals are the most common in terms of obtaining the input material for metal working processes such as wire drawing. One of the issues regarding the process is maintaining the proper temperature preventing cast rod surface oxidation. Experimental work using a laboratory furnace was conducted to verify the parameters determined using finite element method simulations of continuous casting of CuMg alloys. Furthermore, as the alloys are fully novel and not produced or researched on a large scale, they were subjected to microstructural analysis and basic property tests in order to determine their electrical conductivity, density, hardness, and impact toughness. Additionally, pure copper was cast with the same laboratory furnace and the same parameters to function as a point of reference. The obtained results were also compared to commercial materials used for electrical purposes, such as brasses and bronzes. The obtained results proved that the mechanical properties of tested alloys are 2–2.5 times higher than pure copper. Also, the tested materials exhibit lower densities than commercial brass or bronze alloys and their mechanical properties are similar, while electrical conductivity is significantly higher and, thus, they may be used as a material for electrical applications.