Age Hardened from Cold Worked (HT-CW) ASTM B541 Gold Alloy
Age hardened and cold worked ASTM B541 is ASTM B541 gold in the cold worked and aged condition. It has the highest strength and lowest ductility compared to the other variants of ASTM B541 gold.
The graph bars on the material properties cards below compare age hardened and cold worked ASTM B541 to: precious metal electrical contact alloys (top), all alloys in the same category (middle), and the entire database (bottom). A full bar means this is the highest value in the relevant set. A half-full bar means it's 50% of the highest, and so on.
Mechanical Properties
Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus
110 GPa 15 x 106 psi
Elongation at Break
6.0 %
Fatigue Strength
210 MPa 30 x 103 psi
Knoop Hardness
340
Poisson's Ratio
0.4
Shear Modulus
38 GPa 5.5 x 106 psi
Shear Strength
690 MPa 99 x 103 psi
Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS)
1180 MPa 170 x 103 psi
Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof)
900 MPa 130 x 103 psi
Thermal Properties
Latent Heat of Fusion
90 J/g
Melting Completion (Liquidus)
1110 °C 2020 °F
Melting Onset (Solidus)
930 °C 1700 °F
Specific Heat Capacity
170 J/kg-K 0.041 BTU/lb-°F
Thermal Expansion
13 µm/m-K
Other Material Properties
Density
17 g/cm3 1090 lb/ft3
Electrical Conductivity: Equal Volume
12 % IACS
Electrical Conductivity: Equal Weight (Specific)
6.2 % IACS
Common Calculations
Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work)
65 MJ/m3
Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience)
3830 kJ/m3
Stiffness to Weight: Axial
3.4 points
Stiffness to Weight: Bending
9.0 points
Strength to Weight: Axial
19 points
Strength to Weight: Bending
14 points
Thermal Shock Resistance
63 points
Alloy Composition
| Au | 70.5 to 72.5 | |
| Cu | 13.5 to 15.5 | |
| Pt | 8.0 to 9.0 | |
| Ag | 4.0 to 5.0 | |
| Zn | 0.7 to 1.3 | |
| res. | 0 to 0.4 |
All values are % weight. Ranges represent what is permitted under applicable standards.
Followup Questions
Further Reading
ASTM B541: Standard Specification for Gold Electrical Contact Alloy