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汽车的需求急剧上升。为了实现这一目标，扩大使用轻金属合金以减轻车辆总重量是汽车行业非常感兴趣的领域。铝合金在这方面特别成功，但传统加工(铸造、锻造)型材在一个特别有利可图的市场--结构发动机部件--并没有获得显著的市场份额。鉴于严格的尺寸控制和良好的机械性能是必需的，而成本效益高的生产则是强制性的，渗透到这一领域是一项不祥的任务。就前者而言，仅通过传统的金属成形作业无法达到所需的公差。这确保了对昂贵的加工操作的需求，这些操作增加了成本，以至于铝无法成为可行的选择。然而，可以利用铝粉冶金(P/M)固有的精密成形能力来避免这个问题，并生产出高性能但低成本的产品。这种方法的优点对美国、日本和欧洲的工程师来说已经变得显而易见，因为许多大型研究和开发计划现在都很活跃。但不幸的是，类似计划在加拿大的发生率极低。加拿大的技术进步一直滞后，因此，加拿大的开发也是如此。申请人建议在一些关键领域进行研究，这些领域对提高铝的利用率至关重要。其中一个将涉及以粉末冶金与高性能变形合金(如AA2618)等价物为中心的新合金体系的开发。另一个分支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，将合成各种原位形成的氮化物增强的复合材料。最后，将研究铝粉末冶金合金的烧结钎焊技术的发展。在该技术中，铝基粉末的绿色压坯被同时烧结和钎焊，从而生产出具有极高几何复杂性的具有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.