The objective of the invention is to provide a wiring system by which it is possible to minimize size increases and reduced work efficiency during assembly even when using an aluminum wire or an aluminum alloy wire for at least a portion of a signal line. This wiring system includes a digital signal wire. This wiring system contains an aluminum wire or an aluminum alloy wire as the digital signal wire.

Provided are an electric wire conductor having both flexibility and a space-saving property, a covered electric wire, and a wiring harness containing such an electric wire conductor. The electric wire conductor contains a plurality of elemental wires, and has a flat portion in which a cross-section intersecting an axial direction of the wire strand has a flat shape. Deformation ratios of the elemental wires at peripheral end parts in a width direction are 70% or lower of deformation ratios of the elemental wires at center parts. Further, a covered electric wire contains the electric wire conductor and an insulator covering the electric wire conductor.

The present invention provides a movable cable, which has strength that is at least equal to conventional movable cables while having excellent flexural fatigue resistance and flexibility as well as being lightweight. This movable cable 10 has an electric conductor therein. The conductor comprises a first conductor 2 made of a specific aluminum alloy material wherein: the alloy composition contains, in mass %, 0.05-1.8% Mg, 0.01-2.0% Si, 0.01-1.5% Fe, and at least a total of 0.00-2.00 of one element selected from the group consisting of Cu, Ag, Zn, Ni, Co, Au, Mn, Cr, V, Zr, Ti and Sn, the balance being Al and unavoidable impurities; the crystal grains have a fiber-like metal structure in which the crystal grains all extend in one direction; and in a cross-section parallel to the one direction, the average crystal grain dimension perpendicular to the longitudinal direction is 400 nm or less. The ratio X of the area of the first conductor 2 in the whole conductor of the movable cable 10 is in the range of 10-100%.

An electric wire conductor is excellent in space saving and flexibility and is less likely to concentrate a load on specific elemental wires, and a covered electric wire and a wire harness contain the electric wire conductor. The electric wire conductor contains a wire strand containing a plurality of elemental wires twisted together. The wire strand has a sector-shaped part in which a cross-section intersecting an axial direction of the wire strand contains either a single edge or two edges touching each other at an apex, and an outward curve connecting the ends of the single edge or the two edges. In the sector-shaped part, the elemental wires having deformation ratios from a circle lower at an outer peripheral part facing an outer periphery of the sector-shaped part than at a center part of the sector-shaped part located inside the outer peripheral part in the cross-section intersecting the axial direction.

An aluminum alloy wire rod has a chemical composition consisting of 0.1 to 1.0 mass % of Co, 0.2 to 0.5 mass % of Zr, 0.02 to 0.09 mass % of Fe, 0.02 to 0.09 mass % of Si, 0 to 0.2 mass % of Mg, 0 to 0.10 mass % of Ti, 0 to 0.03 mass % of B, 0 to 1.00 mass % of Cu, 0 to 0.50 mass % of Ag, 0 to 0.50 mass % of Au, 0 to 1.00 mass % of Mn, 0 to 1.00 mass % of Cr, 0 to 0.50 mass % of Hf, 0 to 0.50 mass % of V, 0 to 0.50 mass % of Sc, 0 to 0.50 mass % of Ni, the balance being Al and inevitable impurities, and a metal structure including Al crystal grains, an AlCoFe compound and an AlZr compound. The Al crystal grains having a crystal grain diameter of 10 m or less have an area ratio of 90% or more. The wire rod has a tensile strength of 150 MPa or more, an electrical conductivity of 55% IACS or more and when heated at 200 deg C. for 10 years, a strength of 90% or more of its initial state strength.

A method is disclosed for connecting a first and a second conductor for use in a prefabricated cable accessory. The method includes electrically connecting the first and second conductors by welding them together and filling a space between an outer surface of the welded conductor and an outer surface of a cable insulation of the first and second conductors by arranging a metal sleeve therebetween.

A method of forming a metal-graphene composite includes coating metal components (10) with graphene (14) to form graphene-coated metal components, combining a plurality of the graphene-coated metal components to form a precursor workpiece (26), and working the precursor workpiece (26) into a bulk form (30) to form the metal-graphene composite. A metal-graphene composite includes graphene (14) in a metal matrix wherein the graphene (14) is single-atomic layer or multi-layer graphene (14) distributed throughout the metal matrix and primarily (but not exclusively) oriented with a plane horizontal to an axial direction of the metal-graphene composite.

A tempering process for tempering an aluminum alloy coil includes a first reel-to-reel process including an anneal to solutionize the aluminum alloy followed by a quench, a second reel-to-reel process comprising rolling reduction, and a hardening anneal performed on the aluminum alloy coil. Cladding may be performed during the second reel-to-reel process; or a subsequent reel-to-reel electroplating process may be performed including an alkaline soak clean, an alkaline microetch and seed electroplating, and aqueous electroplating of a contact metal onto the seed electroplating. Electrical interconnect components may be stamped from the tempered and clad or electroplated aluminum alloy coil. The electrical interconnect components may, for example, be connectors, lead frames, or bus bars.

An aluminum alloy contains equal to or more than 0.005 mass % and equal to or less than 2.2 mass % of Fe, and a remainder of Al and an inevitable impurity. In a transverse section of the aluminum alloy wire, a surface-layer void measurement region in a shape of a rectangle having a short side length of 30 m and a long side length of 50 m is defined within a surface layer region extending from a surface of the aluminum alloy wire by 30 m in a depth direction, and a total cross-sectional area of voids in the surface-layer void measurement region is equal to or less than 2 m.sup.2.

A wire conductor has a plurality of elemental wires made of aluminum or an aluminum alloy, which are stranded with each other and arranged, in cross-section intersecting an axial direction of the wire conductor, in which one or a plurality of virtual elemental wires are removed from an outer peripheral portion of a virtual cross-section represented by a maximum number of virtual elemental wires accommodated in a circumscribing figure approximated by a regular hexagon, the virtual elemental wires having a same diameter as the elemental wires. The wire conductor includes a plurality of slave strands, each being a strand of the plurality of elemental wires, a maximum diameter cross-sectional area ratio is 0.63 or higher that is calculated by dividing a cross-sectional area of the wire conductor by an area of a circle having a diameter equal to a maximum value of an outer diameter of the wire conductor.