STEP Aluminium

铝合金是仅次于钢的世界上应用第二广泛的结构金属，具有密度低(比钢轻3倍)、高耐腐蚀性和良好的综合物理力学性能。在比强度(强度/密度)方面，铝合金优于传统钢，与近年来发展起来的先进高强度钢(AHSS)的性能相当。这使得铝合金在运输行业中的应用特别有吸引力。自1950年以来，对铝产品的需求增长了30倍，预计这种异常增长将持续到21世纪上半叶。然而，关于铝的消息既有好消息，也有坏消息。坏消息是，铝生产消耗了全球3.5%的电力，造成了全球1%的二氧化碳排放，对我们的环境造成了巨大的负面影响；好消息是，铝原则上是无限可回收的，其回收只需要初级金属生产所需能源的5%。此外，自1908年以来，我们累计生产了超过10亿吨铝，其中75%以上的铝仍然作为可获得的库存存在于我们的社会中。这些金属库存将成为我们的能源“银行”和丰富的资源，以满足我们未来的需求。我们的长期愿景是“全铝循环”，即通过减少使用、再利用、再制造、闭路循环以及有效回收和精炼二次铝来满足全球对铝的需求。在这一共同愿景下，BCAST(轻金属研究的全球领先者)和Constellium(铝轻型结构供应的全球领先者)建立了战略研究伙伴关系，开发高性能铝合金及其在轻型汽车制造中的应用，研究项目涵盖了广泛的技术准备水平。在全金属流通的共同愿景下，BCAST和Constellium确定了共同的研究挑战，并共同创建了关于STEP(应变增强沉淀)铝合金的连贯基础研究计划，以补充现有的应用研究活动。该计划旨在通过成功实施共同创建的STEP Al研究计划，加强Constellium和BCAST之间现有的战略研究伙伴关系，该计划将加速学术研究对业务的影响，平衡基础研究和应用研究之间的能力，并将建立和巩固英国在铝研究方面的国际领先地位。在STEP Al计划中，我们将开发具有超高强度(强度是常规合金的两倍)、良好的延展性、高耐撞性和高导热性的新一代高性能铝合金；我们将开发一种新型的直接激冷(DC)铸造工艺和形变加工程序，以实现STEP铝合金的全部潜力；我们将对精确的沉淀机制和溶质-位错-沉淀的相互作用提供新的见解，以支持材料和加工技术的发展；我们还将开发一种整体方法来设计轻型汽车结构，以展示我们研究成果的全部潜力。成功实施STEP Al方案将在成核科学、物理冶金、先进合金开发、材料加工技术和整体工程设计方面取得重大进展。这些反过来将对英国的生产率、英国整体经济和我们的环境产生深远的影响。

As the second most widely used structural metal in the world, after steel, Al-alloys have a low density (3 times lighter than steel), high corrosion resistance and a good combination of physical and mechanical properties. In terms of specific strength (strength/density), Al-alloys outperform conventional steels and match the performance of advanced high strength steels (AHSS) developed in recent years. This makes Al alloys particularly attractive for applications in the transport industry. The demand for aluminium products has increased 30-fold since 1950 and this exceptional growth is predicted to continue well into the first half of the 21st century. However, there is both good and bad news about aluminium. The bad news is that aluminium production uses 3.5% of global electricity and causes 1% of global CO2 emissions resulting in a large negative impact on our environment; and the good news is that aluminium is in principle infinitely recyclable and its recycling requires only 5% of the energy required for primary metal production. In addition, since 1908 we have cumulatively produced over 1 billion tonnes of aluminium, and more than 75% of this aluminium still exists as accessible stock in our society. Such metal stock will become our energy "bank" and a rich resource for meeting our future needs. Our long term vision is "full aluminium circulation", in which the global demand for aluminium is met by a full circulation of secondary aluminium (with only limited addition of primary aluminium each year) through reduced usage, reuse, remanufacture, closed-loop recycling and effective recovery and refining of secondary aluminium. Under this shared vision, BCAST (a global leader in light metal research) and Constellium (a global leader in aluminium lightweight structure supply) have established a strategic research partnership for developing high performance Al-alloys and their applications in lightweight vehicle constructions, with research projects covering a wide range of technology readiness levels.Under the shared vision for full metal circulation, BCAST and Constellium have identified the shared research challenges and co-created a coherent fundamental research programme on STEP (STrain Enhanced Precipitation) Al-alloys to complement the existing applied research activities. This programme aims to strengthen the existing, strategic research partnership between Constellium and BCAST through successful execution of a co-created STEP Al research programme, which will accelerate academic research impact on business, balance capability between fundamental and applied research, and will build and consolidate the UK's internationally leading position in aluminium research. In the STEP Al programme, we will develop a new generation of high performance Al-alloys with ultra-high strength (twice the strength of their conventional counterparts), good ductility, high crashworthiness and high thermal conductivity; we will develop a novel direct chill (DC) casting process and thermomechanical processing procedures to realise the full potential of STEP Al-alloys; we will deliver new insights into the precise precipitation mechanisms and the solute-dislocation-precipitate interactions to underpin both materials and processing technology development; and we will also develop a holistic approach to the design of lightweight automotive structures to demonstrate the full potential of our research outcomes. Successful execution of the STEP Al programme will deliver significant advances in nucleation science, physical metallurgy, advanced alloy development, materials processing technologies and holistic engineering design. These will in turn have profound impact on UK productivity, the overall UK economy and our environment.