Development of innovative aluminum P/M materials and processing technologies

近年来，对提高燃油效率和减少排放的车辆的需求急剧上升。 为了实现这一目标，扩大使用轻金属合金来减少车辆的总重量是汽车界非常感兴趣的领域。 铝合金在这方面特别成功，但传统加工（铸造、锻造）形式在一个特别有利可图的市场--结构发动机部件市场--中还没有获得可观的存在。渗透到这个领域是一个不祥的任务，因为严格的尺寸控制和优良的机械性能是斯台普斯，而成本效益的生产是强制性的。 关于前者，所需的公差不能通过传统的金属成形操作单独获得。这确保了对昂贵的机加工操作的需要，这增加了成本，使得铝不能成为可行的选择。然而，可以利用铝粉末冶金（P/M）固有的精密成形能力来避免这个问题，并产生高性能但具有成本效益的产品。 这种方法的优点对于美国的工程师来说已经变得显而易见，日本和欧洲的许多大型研究和开发活动现在都很活跃。 不幸的是，在加拿大，类似项目的发生率不成比例地低。 技术进步滞后，因此，加拿大的开采也滞后。 申请人建议在对提高铝粉末冶金的使用至关重要的许多关键领域进行研究。 其中一个将涉及新合金系统的开发，特别是以高性能锻造合金（如AA 2618）的粉末冶金等效物为中心。 在另一个分支中，将致力于开发具有优异耐磨性和高温稳定性的铝基材料。 在这里，将合成用原位形成的氮化物增强的各种复合材料。 最后，对粉末冶金铝合金烧结钎焊技术的发展进行了展望。 在这种技术中，铝基粉末的绿色压坯被同时烧结和钎焊，从而产生具有特殊几何复杂性的成本效益的汽车部件。

The demand for vehicles with improved fuel efficiency and reduced emissions has risen sharply in recent years.  In an effort to meet this goal, the expanded use of light metal alloys to reduce overall vehicle weight is an area of great automotive interest.  Aluminum alloys have been particularly successful in this regard yet conventionally processed (cast, wrought) forms have not attained an appreciable presence in one particularly lucrative market - that of structural engine components. Penetration into this sector is a foreboding task given that tight dimensional control and excellent mechanical properties are staples while cost effective production is mandatory.  With regards to the former, the required tolerances can not be attained through traditional metal forming operations alone. This ensures the need for expensive machining operations that increase costs to a point where aluminum fails to become a viable option. However, the precision forming capabilities inherent in aluminum powder metallurgy (P/M) can be leveraged to avoid this problem and yield a high performance yet cost-effective, product.  The merit of this approach has become obvious to engineers in the U.S.A., Japan and Europe as many large research and development initiatives are now active.  Unfortunately, the occurrence of similar programs in Canada is disproportionately low.  Technological advancement has lagged and as a result, so too has Canadian exploitation.  The applicant proposes to conduct research in a number of key areas that are pivotal to the enhanced usage of aluminum P/M.  One will pertain to the development of new alloy systems specifically centered on P/M equivalents to high performance wrought alloys such as AA2618.  In another branch the development of aluminum-based materials with exceptional wear resistance and high temperature stability will be pursued.  Here, composite materials of sorts reinforced with in-situ formed nitrides will be synthesized.  Finally, the development of sinter-brazing technology for aluminum P/M alloys will be studied.  In this technique green compacts of aluminum-based powders are sintered and brazed simultaneously yielding cost-effective automotive components of exceptional geometric complexity.