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.

减轻在陆地、海上和空中运送人员和货物的车辆的重量对于提高燃料经济性和增加使命有效载荷至关重要。 铝合金由于其高强度重量比而用于汽车和航空航天工业以满足这一需求。然而，为了提高燃料效率，需要更高强度和更轻重量的合金，这可以通过在铝基体中掺入纳米尺寸的颗粒来实现。一种新的方法来生产纳米粒子已经开发的基础上引入气泡直接到熔融铝。 向熔体中吹入氮气可以产生尺寸为50纳米的氮化铝颗粒。该奖项支持基础研究，以提供控制颗粒尺寸和形状所需的知识，从而优化机械性能和性能。 这项研究的结果将使工业界能够将这一工艺从小型实验室熔体扩大到商业尺寸的铸锭，这将使轻型合金的开发能够用于地面，空中和海上运输，直接有利于美国经济。 参与这项研究的学生将有机会与来自行业的工程师互动，他们是团队的一部分。 一个综合的实验和建模方法将被利用，这是形成材料工程教育的新基础。 外联活动强调对妇女和代表性不足的少数群体的辅导。已经证明，掺入50-200纳米颗粒可以提高铝合金的强度和高温稳定性。 然而，由于纳米颗粒的团聚和在纳米颗粒-基体界面处的不充分结合，复合材料的机械性能常常降低。一种新的方法，其中的增强纳米粒子是直接产生在熔融金属通过原位气-液反应已被证明产生纳米尺寸的，分散的AlN和TiC颗粒。 在这个项目中，纳米到微观结构的动力学控制的过程将被调查。这些基础研究的见解将指导大规模原位铝纳米复合材料制造的工艺条件窗口的确定，该工艺条件窗口产生具有最佳机械性能的纳米颗粒形态和分布。 为了研究纳米尺度的热力学和动力学过程，原位反射高能电子衍射（RHEED）将在分子束外延（MBE）系统中的合金氮化过程中使用。对于原位3D纳米粒子可视化，将开发一个小型熔化器，并使用基于同步加速器的X射线纳米层析成像技术实现纳米复合材料的3D可视化。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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