A one-step advanced manufacturing process for developing bulk stable nanocrystalline-lightweight alloy: A new weight reduction approach to combating global climate change

阿尔伯塔省/加拿大致力于联合国应对全球气候变化的可持续发展目标。随着减少能源消耗/排放的要求越来越严格，从冶金的角度来看，实现这一目标的选择很少。例如，在过去的四十年中，汽车工业未能减少导致高油耗的车辆重量；相反，技术创新被用来抵消这些影响，例如，电动汽车的出现。然而，在不牺牲安全性的情况下，将车辆轻量化35%可以进一步降低12-20%的油耗。这一点，以及其他重重量要求结构，为冶金减重方法打开了一扇新的窗口，将在创纪录的时间内完成阿尔伯塔/加拿大的气候变化目标。通过在材料中发展纳米晶（NC）结构，可以提高材料的强度，从而降低材料对结构的厚度/重量要求，进而降低能耗。然而，由于晶界处的能量过剩，纳米颗粒即使在室温下也不稳定；一种导致NC材料失去固有功能特性并阻碍其广泛使用的现象。虽然稳定NC材料防止晶粒生长很重要，但它们的商业应用在厚度上受到限制（~1-100 μ m）。仍然需要处理科学来规避轮廓上的缺陷。因此，本项目的总体目标是在一步工艺中设计和开发超高强度“大块”轻量化稳定数控合金。，直接批量生产NC，但GB稳定的单一制造工艺。这个拟议中的项目将通过减少与2030年温室气体减排目标相关的成本（91亿美元，如果不采取新的措施，估计将减少5.5万亿美元），直接使阿尔伯塔省和加拿大的能源和交通部门受益。该研究项目还将为高素质人才的培训做出贡献，以确保阿尔伯塔省和加拿大在纳米技术和先进制造技术领域的专家得到持续培训。

Alberta/Canada is committed to the United Nation's sustainable development goals to combat global climate change. As the requirement to reduce energy consumption/emission becomes more stringent, there are few options for accomplishing this goal from a metallurgical standpoint. For instance, in the past four decades, automobile industries have not been able to reduce the vehicular weight that causes high fuel consumption; instead, technological innovations are used to offset these impacts, e.g., the advent of electric vehicles. However, making vehicles lighter by 35% with no sacrifice to safety can further lower fuel consumption by another 12-20%. This, and other heavy weight requiring-structures open a new window for a metallurgical weight-reduction approach that will accomplish Alberta/Canada's climate change target in record time. Materials' thickness/weight requirement for structures and, in turn, energy consumption, can be reduced when materials' strength is increased through the development of nanocrystalline (NC) structure in the materials. However, nanograins are unstable even at ambient temperature due to the excess energy at the grain boundaries; a phenomenon that results in the loss of inherent functional properties in NC materials and also stalls their widespread use. While stabilizing NC materials against grain growth is important, their commercial adoption is limited in thickness (~1-100 µm). There is still a need for processing science that circumvents the outline drawbacks. Therefore, the overall objective of this project is to design and develop ultra-high strength "bulk" lightweight stabilized NC alloy in a one-step process-i.e., a single manufacturing process that directly produces NC in bulk but with GB stabilized. This proposed project will directly benefit the energy and transportation sectors in Alberta and Canada by reducing the cost associated with greenhouse-gas reduction targets by 2030-$9.1 billion, and an estimated $5.5 trillion if no new measure is taken. The research program will also contribute to the training of highly qualified personnel to ensure continuous training of experts in Alberta and Canada, in the area of nanotechnology, and advanced manufacturing technologies.