GOALI: Retrogression Forming of High-Strength Aluminum Alloys

减轻重量是提高未来汽车和卡车效率的一个非常重要的手段。无论选择哪种传动系，减轻重量都能提高燃油效率，增加续航里程。当使用高强度材料时，可以在不牺牲车辆安全的情况下实现减重。高强度铝合金提供了在不影响安全性的情况下显著减轻车辆重量的潜力，但目前这种潜力受到将这些材料成形为汽车生产所需的复杂部件形状的巨大困难的限制。这一学术与工业联系机会(GOALI)奖支持对一种新的、独特的制造路线的研究，以显著提高高强度铝合金板材的成形性。这种工艺称为倒退成形，将成形和热处理操作结合在一起，以提高材料的延展性，同时在最终部件中获得高强度。将使用实验室实验和数值模拟来建立使倒退成形技术成为可能所需的基本科学理解。该项目将由一个包括来自工业界和学术界的研究人员的团队进行，学生将通过项目活动接受教育和培训。产业界和学术界的合作将扩大代表性不足的群体的代表性，并加强对学生的教育和培训。未来工业应用倒退成形技术有望提高车辆的燃油效率，增加车辆续航里程，减少温室气体排放，同时保持或改善车辆的安全性。该奖项支持研究倒退成形过程中的变形。倒退成形是一种新的制造工艺，其目的是提高高强铝合金板材在成形过程中的塑性，同时使最终成形的零件保持高强度。对于倒退成形，在成形时采用加热温度来提高塑性，并选择成形条件来同时进行倒退热处理。峰值时效强度可以很容易地在成形后通过适度的再时效处理来回收。与目前现有的技术相比，倒退成形提供了一种更具吸引力的高强度轻合金成形方法，所有这些技术都需要非常高的成形温度、多次热处理或两者兼而有之，这使得它们在经济上缺乏吸引力。建立对回归时效动力学和温塑性流动的新的科学认识，支持回归成形技术的发展。研究方法结合了实验室实验、材料表征和数值模拟。产生的新的科学认识将被用于设计倒退成形过程的预测性数值模型所捕捉。该项目寻求通过形成实验室规模的演示组件来最终展示这些能力。

Weight reduction is a very important means for increasing the efficiency of future automobiles and trucks. Reduced weight provides improved fuel efficiency and improved driving range, regardless of the chosen power train. When high-strength materials are used, weight reduction may be accomplished without sacrificing vehicle safety. High-strength aluminum alloys offer the potential to significantly decrease vehicle weight without compromising safety, but this potential is currently limited by the great difficulty of forming these materials into the complex component shapes needed for vehicle production. This Grant Opportunities for Academic Liaison with Industry (GOALI) award supports research on a new, unique manufacturing route to significantly improve the formability of high-strength aluminum alloy sheet materials. This route, called retrogression forming, combines forming and heat-treating operations to improve material ductility while achieving high strength in the final component. Laboratory experiments and numerical modeling will be used to establish the fundamental scientific understanding required to enable retrogression forming technology. This project will be conducted by a team that includes researchers from both industry and academia with students to be educated and trained through project activities. The collaborations between industry and academia will broaden the representation of underrepresented groups and enhance the education and training of students. Future industrial implementation of retrogression forming technology is expected to improve vehicle fuel efficiency, increase vehicle range and reduce green-house gas emissions while maintaining or improving vehicle safety.This GOALI award supports research to understand deformation during retrogression forming. Retrogression forming is a new manufacturing route aimed to increase the ductility of high-strength aluminum alloy sheet materials during forming while enabling the retention of high strength in the final components formed. For retrogression forming, a warm temperature is used to increase ductility while forming, and the forming conditions are chosen to simultaneously produce a retrogression heat treatment. Peak-aged strength can then be reclaimed easily by a modest re-aging treatment after forming. Retrogression forming offers a much more attractive approach to forming high-strength light alloys than do currently available technologies, all of which require a very high forming temperature, multiple heat treatments or both, rendering them economically unattractive. New scientific understanding for retrogression and aging kinetics and for plastic flow at warm temperatures will be established to support the development of retrogression forming technology. The research approach combines laboratory experiments, materials characterization and numerical modeling. The new scientific understanding produced will be captured in predictive numerical models useful for designing retrogression forming processes. The project seeks to ultimately demonstrate these capabilities through the forming of laboratory-scale demonstration components.