TSE: Collaborative Research: Environmentally Benign Manufacturing - Casting by Design

这个国家科学基金会和环境保护局的可持续环境技术项目提出了一种新技术，使熔融金属的连续铸造，在一个步骤中，设计师的规格。 贝塞默（1865年）的设想是将原材料直接固化成最终产品，而不需要后续加工步骤（轧制、退火），现在可以实现薄平板产品，从而具有显著的环境优势。 铸造铝箔，例如，仅在美国，一步之内，每年就可以减少25万吨的二氧化碳排放量。在减少制造废物方面节省的每公斤铝都转化为耗能的冶炼厂节省的电力。 该技术是基于控制以前无法控制的长度尺度。这个想法是激光和单辊旋转铸造技术的结合。 激光提供了一种独特的方式，将能量带入熔融金属和基材之间的接触区。 接触区是一个条件不利的区域，通常不适合机械侵入。 成功的设计铸造或可调铸造将使用激光能量来控制产品质量。 一种方法是通过在接触区之前施加热梯度来调节衬底。 喷墨打印中的灰度是由相同大小的墨点的间隔和排列产生的。 以大致相同的方式，建议的梯度将通过热点的布置和间隔来建立。激光加热将在细尺度上诱发热点。该项目将在减少环境影响和能源消耗方面产生重大的社会效益，并为工业提供更好的缩小加工要求。

This National Science Foundation and Environmental Protection Agency Technologies for a Sustainable Environment project proposes a new technology to enable continuous casting of molten metals, in a single step, to the specifications of the designer. Bessemer's vision (1865) of solidifying raw material directly into final product, without downstream processing steps (rolling, annealing), may now be realized for thin flat product, to marked environmental advantage. To cast aluminum foil, e.g., in a single step, would reduce CO2 emissions to the atmosphere by 250,000 tons per year, in the US alone. Every kilogram of aluminum saved in reducing manufacturing waste translates into electricity saved at the energy-hungry smelter. The technology is based on controlling length scales previously inaccessible to control. The idea is a marriage between laser and single-roll spin casting technologies. The laser offers a unique way to bring energy into the zone of contact between molten metal and substrate. The contact zone is a region of adverse conditions, generally inhospitable to mechanical intrusion. Successful casting by design, or tunable casting, will use laser energy to manipulate product quality. One approach is to condition the substrate by imposing thermal gradients before the contact zone. Grey-scales in ink-jet printing are produced by the spacing and arrangements of ink dots of the same size. In much the same way, the proposed gradients will be established with arrangements and spacing of hot spots. Laser heating will induce the hot spots at fine scales. This project will have significant societal benefits in reducing environmental impact and energy consumption, as well as providing improved scaled-down processing requirements for industry.