Demand for lighter automotive components increases when lighter vehicles travel farther. alloy 7075 is one of the lightest and strongest options but it requires energy intensive production that raises costs and limits their use.
The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is researching ways to cut energy in half by using a more efficient process. The Department of Energy's Advanced Manufacturing Office supported researchers who found that the ShAPE technology can eliminate heat treatment steps in the production process and result in significant energy savings. ShAPE is a green, affordable manufacturing approach that makes it possible to use high- performance aluminum in automotive applications.
Next- generation metals manufacturing is a recipe.
Like baking a cake, metals manufacturing relies on well mixed ingredients and heat. Conventional metal production uses heat to melt individual metals and alloying elements together to create lighter, stronger, or easier-to-form materials. If these elements aren't well-mixed, cracks and fractures can form during processing that compromise the properties of the final product. During the process of homogenization, heat is used to ensure that individual metal elements are well-mixed.
For up to 24 hours, large metal castings are heated to 500 degrees Celsius. In order to ensure that all metal elements are evenly distributed, this heat treatment step is necessary. The final product is improved by this. The metal rods are formed after further heating and forming.
Scott Whalen, chief materials scientist and co-developer of ShAPE, saidhomogenization is the most energy-hungry step in the process.
The ShAPE machine can be used to change the shape of the metal itself. The metal is pushed through a small opening in a die. The metal elements are being mixed as they are being extiguished. The metal is homogenized in a few seconds before it is extiguished. The elimination of the need for a day-long, pre- heating homogenization step means that no additional energy is used to heat the billet. Up to 50 percent energy savings can be achieved with this combination.
Eat your cake as well.
ShAPE is a more energy efficient and quicker process, and it also improves how well the individual elements are mixed, which leads to a better final product. The final product in manufacturing can perform better if the elements are mixed well. The components made with ShAPE exceeded American Society for Testing and Materials standards for strength and elasticity.
The lead author of the recent publication in Materials and Design said that they used an electron microscope to see that ShAPE broke apart the alloy aggregates and dissolved them into the aluminum matrix. Our aluminum 7075 alloy is stronger and stretches farther before it breaks.
It's possible to put high- performance aluminum alloy in reach.
The automotive and aerospace industries value aluminum alloy because of it's strength and lightweightness. The most high- performance aluminum alloys are time- and energy-intensive to manufacture, pricing them out of a lot of markets. The ShAPE process eliminates a major hurdle in the production of high- performance aluminum by dramatically reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.
According to Whalen, this is an important step in unlocking the potential of next- generation metals manufacturing to produce better, cheaper, greener products for the future.
More information: Tianhao Wang et al, Extrusion of Unhomogenized Castings of 7075 Aluminum via ShAPE, Materials & Design (2021). DOI: 10.1016/j.matdes.2021.110374The Techno-Economic Analysis for Shear Assisted Processing and Extrusion of High Strength aluminum alloy was written by Sertac Akar and his colleagues. The DOI is 10.2172.
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