Development of strong, formable, stainless and low-cost magnesium alloys for next generation cars

轻量化是当今制造商面临的最大挑战之一，也是下一代汽车提高燃油效率和减少碳排放的迫切要求。将汽车重量减轻50公斤，可减少高达5g二氧化碳/公里的排放，并可将燃油经济性提高高达2%。镁的重量分别比钢和铝轻75%和33%，越来越受到汽车工程师的欢迎。从理论上讲，镁合金为几个工业部门的轻量化提供了一个有前途的解决方案。然而，镁组件目前只占一辆普通汽车重量的1%左右。这归因于镁合金长期存在的问题，如与较重的铝和钢相比，镁合金的生产成本高、成形性低、腐蚀率高。因此，设计高性能、低成本的镁合金是汽车工业的迫切需求。生产坚固、可成形、不锈钢和低成本的镁合金被认为是极其困难的，到目前为止还没有实现。传统的合金设计路线和制造工艺不仅费时费力，而且不能保证生产出高性能的镁合金。此外，在优化镁合金的机械和物理性能方面非常关键的再结晶和变形机制需要被彻底地探索和建立。该研究会的总体目标是开发新的合金设计路线，同时开发创新的制造工艺，从而生产出坚固、可成形、不锈钢和低成本的镁合金(例如，屈服强度&GT；300 Mpa，Index Erichsen(即。)表示拉伸成形性的数值&gt；8 mm，腐蚀速率&lt；0.4 mg/cm2/天)。这将通过了解合金元素如何相互作用以及所开发的工艺如何用于定制多尺度微结构(例如，含有弱织构的超细颗粒(~1微米)的合金)来实现。罗伊斯谢菲尔德和索比中心配备了涵盖合金化设计、制造和加工、测试和表征的大量最先进的设施，将帮助我在发现和开发新的镁合金系统方面实现阶段性的变化，使概念从早期的基础研究一直到转化为工业，更重要的是，涵盖技术准备级别(TRL)1到6。最近，一种耐腐蚀的镁锂合金被生产出来，但在它可以商业应用之前，它的高生产成本和潜在的易燃性仍然需要考虑。我的目标是进一步突破高性能轻镁合金的界限，我已经有证据表明，我可以使用新的热机械工艺来提高目前由美国联邦航空管理局批准的商用镁合金的强度和耐腐蚀性，而不会造成延展性损失。这项奖学金将解决在单一合金系统中结合高机械性能和耐腐蚀性方面的重大挑战。该奖学金旨在帮助工业项目合作伙伴加快新的先进轻合金的开发。新的热机械/制造工艺是可出口的技术，将允许公司开发新的知识产权。我的研究将进一步扩大到为航空航天、公共交通和医疗行业开发产品，并确保英国的低碳经济。最重要的是，这一奖学金将组建一个由工程和显微镜专家组成的新的英国团队，目的是将脆弱的镁转化为可靠的结构/医疗材料，从而加快几个工业部门的轻量化步伐。

Light weighting is one of the biggest challenges facing manufacturers today and urgently required for next generation cars to increase fuel efficiency and reduce carbon emissions. Reducing a car's weight by 50 kg decreases emissions by up to 5g CO2/km and increases fuel economy by up to 2%. Being 75% and 33% lighter than steel and aluminium (Al), Mg is becoming more popular with automotive engineers. In theory, Mg alloys offer a promising solution for lightweighting in several industrial sectors. However, Mg components currently only constitute ~1% of a typical car's weight. This is attributed to long-standing issues with Mg alloys such as high production cost, low formability and high corrosion rate, compared to heavier Al and steels. Therefore, designing high performance and low cost Mg alloys is in great demand for automotive industry. Producing strong, formable, stainless and low-cost Mg alloys is recognised to be extremely difficult and has not to date been achieved. Traditional alloy design routes and manufacturing processing are not only time-consuming and not cost-effective, but also cannot guarantee production Mg alloys with high performance. In addition, the highly debated recrystallisation and deformation mechanisms, critical in optimising mechanical and physical properties of Mg alloys, need to be thoroughly explored and established.The overall objective of this fellowship is to develop new routes of alloy design, simultaneously developing innovative manufacturing processes, thereby producing strong, formable, stainless and low-cost Mg alloys(e.g., yield strength >300 MPa, Index Erichsen (I.E.) value indicating stretch formability >8mm, corrosion rate <0.4mg/cm2/day). This will be achieved by understanding how the alloying elements interact with each other and how the developed processes can be used to tailor multi-scale microstructures (e.g., alloys containing ultrafine grains (~1 microns) with weak texture). Equipped with vast state-of-the-art facilities covering alloying designing, manufacturing and processing, testing and characterisation, Royce@Sheffield and Sorby Centre will help me deliver a step change in the discovery and development of new Mg alloy systems, enabling concepts development from early, fundamental research right through to translation to industry and, crucially, covering Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) 1 to 6. Recently, a corrosion-resistant Mg-Li alloy was produced, but its high production cost and potential flammability still need to be considered before it can be commercially adopted. My goal is to push the boundaries of high-performance light Mg alloys yet further and I already have evidence that I can increase the strength and corrosion resistance of a commercial Mg alloy, currently approved by U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, without ductility loss using novel thermomechanical processing. This fellowship will address significant challenges in coupling high mechanical properties and corrosion resistance within a single alloy system.The fellowship aims to help industrial project partners accelerate the development of new advanced light alloys. New thermomechanical/manufacturing processes are exportable technology and will permit companies to develop new IP. My research will be further extended to develop products for aerospace, public transport and medical industries and ensure a low carbon economy in the UK. Most importantly, this fellowship will assemble a new UK team of engineering and microscopists with the aim of turning vulnerable Mg into reliable structural/medical materials, thereby accelerating the pace of light weighting in several industrial sectors.