Development of efficient and scalable ultrasound-assisted solidification technologies for manufacturing advanced metallic alloys (Ultra-Cast)

该提案是为了响应EPSRC在2013年7月9日开放的研究人员主导的研究项目的未来需求而提交的。该提案解决了金属材料和制造行业的迫切需求，即寻找和采用下一代，逐步变化的技术来制造具有更高机械性能和可靠性，更少能耗和负面环境影响的初级铸锭和/或成形部件，例如用于大众运输应用的Al和Mg合金，消费品，用于工业燃气轮机（IGTs）的Ni高温合金用于发电。目前，我们的经济竞争对手正在这方面进行广泛的研究。通过采用更轻的合金，具有更好的机械性能和可靠性，质量运输系统可以减少能源消耗，不利的环境影响，使替代燃料方案的更广泛应用成为可能。随着材料性能的提高，IGTs可以在更高的温度占空比下工作，以提高能源产生的效率。铸造是这些和其他应用中使用最广泛和最具生产力的制造技术之一。超声波空化处理为传统和先进金属材料的熔体加工和铸造提供了可持续、经济和无污染的解决方案，显著提高了制造产品的机械性能和质量。虽然在实验室规模上进行了验证，但超声辅助铸造技术尚未得到广泛的工业应用，这主要是由于对导致宏观/微观结构改善的机制缺乏深入的了解，特别是对凝固过程不同阶段增强成核和晶体增殖的机制缺乏深入的了解。该计划将研究金属合金在超声波作用下的凝固基本原理，并开发工业上可开发的方法来控制和优化超声波作用下的凝固组织。其目标是通过细化微观结构，提高化学和微观组织的均匀性，减少原锭和异型铸件的凝固缺陷，实现铸造产品中不同材料性能的改进。本研究是一项雄心勃勃且具有挑战性的研究，旨在研究超声促进金属合金在不同凝固阶段晶粒成核和增殖的基本机制，并建立实用的方法。该研究的新颖之处在于将最先进的原位超高速成像研究与先进的数值模拟和在真实金属合金上进行的放大实验相结合。结果将是新的知识和新的技术指南，其有效性将通过EPSRC液态金属工程创新制造中心（LiME）和行业合作伙伴Doncasters集团有限公司的试点和工业规模设施生产的商业合金和铸件来证明，为行业提供使用超声波技术控制铸件微观结构的知识、方法和工具。

This proposal is submitted in response to the EPSRC Manufacturing the Future Call for Investigator-led Research Projects open on 09 July 2013.This proposal addresses the urgent need of the metal materials and manufacture industry to search and adopt next-generation, step-change technologies for the manufacturing of primary ingots and/or shaped components with much improved mechanical properties and reliability, less energy consumption and negative environmental impact, e.g. Al and Mg alloys for mass transport applications, consumer products, Ni superalloy for industrial gas turbines (IGTs) for energy generation. At present, our economic competitors are conducting extensive research in this area. By adopting lighter alloys with better mechanical properties and reliability, mass transport systems can reduce energy consumption, adverse environmental impact, making wider application of alternative fuel schemes possible. While with improved materials performance, IGTs can be operated at a higher temperature duty cycle to increase the efficiency of energy generation. Casting is one of the most widely used and productive manufacturing technologies for these and other applications. Ultrasonic cavitation treatment offers sustainable, economical and pollution-free solutions to melt processing and casting of conventional and advanced metallic materials with significant improvement in mechanical properties and quality of the products manufactured. Although demonstrated on a laboratory scale, the ultrasound-assisted casting technique has not yet found widespread industrial application, mostly due to the lack of in-depth understanding of the mechanisms that lead to the macro/microstructure improvement, especially on the mechanisms of enhancing nucleation and crystal multiplication at different stages of solidification processes. The proposed programme will study the solidification fundamentals of metallic alloys under applied ultrasonic waves, and develop industrial exploitable methodologies to control and optimise the solidified microstructure under the influence of ultrasonic waves. The goal is to realise distinct materials performance improvements in cast products through microstructure refinement, increased chemical and microstructural homogeneity and the reduction of solidification defects in primary ingots and shaped castings. The proposed research is ambitious and challenging, aiming to study not only the fundamental mechanisms but also to establish practical methodologies of using ultrasound to promote grain nucleation and multiplication during different stages of solidification in metallic alloys. The novelty of the research is a combination of state-of-the-art in-situ ultra-high speed imaging studies plus advanced numerical modelling and scale-up experiments performed on real metallic alloys. The outcomes will be new knowledge and novel technological guidelines with their validity demonstrated using commercial alloys and castings produced in the pilot and industrial-scale facilities of the EPSRC Innovative Manufacturing Centre in Liquid Metal Engineering (LiME) and industry partner, Doncasters Group Ltd, providing industry with the knowledge, methodologies and tools to control microstructure of castings using ultrasound technology.