Manufacturing USA/GOALI: Visualizing Nanoscale Evolution during Aluminum Alloy Melt Processing

美国制造/GOALI：铝合金熔体加工过程中纳米级演化的可视化

• 批准号: 1762657
• 负责人: Alan Taub
• 金额: $ 30万
• 依托单位: Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-06-15 至 2021-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1762657&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Manufacturing; USA; GOALI; Visualizing; Nanoscale

Reducing the weight of vehicles that move people and goods on land, sea and air is critical for improving fuel economy and increasing mission payload. Aluminum alloys are used in the automotive and aerospace industries to meet this need because of their high strength-to-weight ratio. For improved fuel efficiency, however, higher strength and lighter weight alloys are needed, and this can be achieved though the incorporation of nanosized particles in the aluminum matrix. A novel approach to producing the nanoparticles has been developed based on the introduction of gas bubbles directly into the molten aluminum. Blowing nitrogen gas into the melt can produce aluminum nitride particles that are 50 nanometers in size. This Grant Opportunities for Academic Liaison with Industry (GOALI) award supports fundamental research to provide the knowledge needed to control the particle size and shape which lead to optimized mechanical properties and performance. The results from this research will enable industry to scale up this process from small laboratory melts to commercial size ingots, which will enable the development of lightweight alloys for ground, air, and sea transportation, with direct benefit to the U.S. economy. The students involved in this research will have the opportunity to interact with the engineers from industry who are part of the team. An integrated experimental and modeling approach will be utilized, which is forming the new basis for materials engineering education. Outreach activities emphasize the mentoring of women and underrepresented minorities. The incorporation of 50-200 nanometer particles has been shown to improve the strength and high temperature stability of aluminum alloys. However, due to agglomeration of the nanoparticles and insufficient bonding at the nanoparticle-matrix interface, the mechanical properties of the composite material are often degraded. A new approach, in which the reinforcing nanoparticles are generated directly in the molten metal via an in-situ gas-liquid reaction has been shown to produce nanosized, dispersed AlN and TiC particles. In this project, the nano- to micro- structural dynamics governing the process will be investigated. Insights from these fundamental studies will guide the identification of a process condition window for large-scale in-situ aluminum nanocomposite manufacturing, which produces a nanoparticle morphology and distribution with optimum mechanical properties. To examine the nanometer-scale thermodynamic and kinetic processes, in-situ reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED) will be utilized during alloy nitridation in a molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE) system. For in-situ 3D nanoparticle visualization, a mini-melter will be developed and 3D visualization of the nanocomposites will be achieved using synchrotron-based X-ray nanotomography.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

减少在陆地上移动人员和货物的车辆的重量，对于改善燃油经济性和增加任务有效载荷至关重要。 铝合金用于汽车和航空航天行业，以满足这种需求，因为它们的高强度比率很高。但是，为了提高燃油效率，需要更高的强度和较轻的重量合金，这可以通过在铝基质中纳入纳米化颗粒来实现。基于直接引入熔融铝的气泡，已经开发了一种生产纳米颗粒的新方法。 将氮气吹入熔体中可以产生氮颗粒的大小50纳米颗粒。这项与行业联络的赠款机会（Goari）奖支持了基础研究，以提供控制粒度和形状所需的知识，从而导致优化的机械性能和性能。 这项研究的结果将使行业能够扩大此过程，从小型实验室融化到商业尺寸的铸币厂，这将使轻巧的合金开发用于地面，空中和海上运输，并直接利用美国经济。 参与这项研究的学生将有机会与来自该团队的行业的工程师进行互动。 将利用一种集成的实验和建模方法，这是材料工程教育的新基础。 外展活动强调了妇女和代表性不足的少数群体的指导。已显示50-200纳米颗粒的掺入可提高铝合金的强度和高温稳定性。 但是，由于纳米颗粒的聚集和纳米粒子 - 矩阵界面的键合不足，因此复合材料的机械性能通常会降解。一种新方法，其中已证明通过原位气体液反应直接在熔融金属中产生加固的纳米颗粒，已显示出产生纳米化的，分散的Aln和TIC颗粒。 在这个项目中，将研究有关该过程的纳米至微结构动力学。这些基本研究的见解将指导大规模铝纳米复合材料制造的过程条件窗口的识别，该制造产生了具有最佳机械性能的纳米颗粒形态和分布。 为了检查纳米尺度的热力学和动力学过程，在分子束外部（MBE）系统中，将在合金硝化过程中使用高能电子衍射（RHEED）。对于原位3D纳米颗粒可视化，将开发一个迷你融合器，并使用基于同步加速器的X射线纳米学征学来实现纳米复合材料的3D可视化。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并通过使用基金会的知识优点和广泛的影响来评估NSF的法定任务。

项目成果

In Situ Al-TiC Composites Fabricated by Self-propagating High-Temperature Reaction: Insights on Reaction Pathways and Their Microstructural Signatures

• DOI: 10.1007/s11661-020-05786-1
• 发表时间: 2020-05
• 期刊: Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A
• 作者: C. Reese;A. Gladstein;J. M. Fedors;V. De Andrade;B. Mishra;A. Shahani;A. Taub

Real-time visualization of particle evolution during reactive flux-assisted processing of aluminum melts

• DOI: 10.1016/j.scriptamat.2021.113978
• 发表时间: 2021-08
• 期刊: Scripta Materialia
• 影响因子: 6
• 作者: C. Reese;A. Gladstein;P. Shevchenko;Xianghui Xiao;A. Shahani;Alan I. Taub