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Advances in Aluminum: Present and Future Challenges

A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Metals and Alloys".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 November 2022) | Viewed by 8108

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Materials Engineering, Applied Mechanical and Construction Department, Encomat Group, University of Vigo, EEI, E36310 Vigo, Spain
Interests: aluminum composites; surface modification; FSW; corrosion; electrochemistry

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Guest Editor
Spanish National Research Council, CSIC, National Centre for Metallurgical Research, Madrid, Spain
Interests: mechanical properties; aluminum; meso-scale; stochastic analysis; molecular dynamics; nanoindentation
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Since the last decades of the 20th century, aluminum has proven to be one of the most versatile metallic materials in those applications where weight reduction plays a fundamental role. The possibility of recycling aluminum alloys an indefinite number of times is another of its great attractions. Currently, the development of new alloys that improve mechanical properties and corrosion resistance while maintaining a light weight is one of the important lines of research and development work. At the same time, new processes are being developed to manufacture better-performing aluminum-based components, overcoming difficulties in casting, the poor ductility of aluminum alloys at room temperature, and its challenging weldability. Among these processes, solid phase processing, semi-solid processing, the liquid die forging process, powder metallurgy, sheet hydroforming, incremental forming, additive manufacturing and friction stir welding and its variants allow for dissimilar joints.

Many of the advances produced in the design and processing of alloys have been obtained thanks to modeling and simulation techniques. These techniques make it possible to describe everything from phase diagrams of new compositions based on thermodynamic calculations to the flow of material during the deformation and forming processes. To face the future challenges in the aluminum sector, it is necessary to improve knowledge of the micro- and mesoscopic mechanisms that explain the mechanical behavior of aluminum alloys. A deeper understanding of these mechanisms is necessary both in components in real use, and during the manufacturing processes. Additionally, the correlation between aluminum alloy properties and their microstructure must be considered in a unified way to explain the mechanical behavior in volume and surface and against corrosion.

In this Special Issue, we openly invite contributions from researchers working on all the different aspects of this ever-challenging material.

Prof. Dr. Gloria María Pena Uris
Dr. Ricardo Fernández Serrano
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • New casting processes
  • Advances in forming techniques
  • Additive fabrication
  • Friction stir processing and welding
  • Aluminum matrix composites
  • Corrosion and protection
  • Microstructural characterization
  • Modeling and simulation techniques

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

11 pages, 2500 KiB  
Article
Evolution of Superhydrophilic Aluminum Alloy Properties in Contact with Water during Cyclic Variation in Temperature
by Alexander G. Domantovsky, Elizaveta V. Chulkova, Kirill A. Emelyanenko, Konstantin I. Maslakov, Alexandre M. Emelyanenko and Ludmila B. Boinovich
Materials 2022, 15(7), 2447; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15072447 - 26 Mar 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1635
Abstract
Hydrophilic or superhydrophilic materials in some cases are considered to be potentially icephobic due to a low ice-adhesion strength to such materials. Here, the evolution of the properties of a superhydrophilic aluminum alloy with hierarchical roughness, fabricated by laser processing, was studied in [...] Read more.
Hydrophilic or superhydrophilic materials in some cases are considered to be potentially icephobic due to a low ice-adhesion strength to such materials. Here, the evolution of the properties of a superhydrophilic aluminum alloy with hierarchical roughness, fabricated by laser processing, was studied in contact with water during prolonged cyclic variation in temperature. It was shown that the chemical interaction of rough alumina with water molecules caused the substitution of the surface oxide by polymorphic crystalline gibbsite or bayerite phases while preserving hierarchical roughness. Due to such substitution, mechanical durability was notably compromised. Thus, in contrast to the superhydrophobic laser-processed samples, the superhydrophilic samples targeted on the exploitation in an open atmosphere as a material with anti-icing properties cannot be considered as the industrially attractive way to combat icing. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Aluminum: Present and Future Challenges)
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17 pages, 6674 KiB  
Article
Precipitation Hardening at Elevated Temperatures above 400 °C and Subsequent Natural Age Hardening of Commercial Al–Si–Cu Alloy
by Ruoqi Li, Naoki Takata, Asuka Suzuki, Makoto Kobashi, Yuji Okada and Yuichi Furukawa
Materials 2021, 14(23), 7155; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma14237155 - 24 Nov 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2447
Abstract
The precipitation of intermetallic phases and the associated hardening by artificial aging treatments at elevated temperatures above 400 °C were systematically investigated in the commercially available AC2B alloy with a nominal composition of Al–6Si–3Cu (mass%). The natural age hardening of the artificially aged [...] Read more.
The precipitation of intermetallic phases and the associated hardening by artificial aging treatments at elevated temperatures above 400 °C were systematically investigated in the commercially available AC2B alloy with a nominal composition of Al–6Si–3Cu (mass%). The natural age hardening of the artificially aged samples at various temperatures was also examined. A slight increase in hardness (approximately 5 HV) of the AC2B alloy was observed at an elevated temperature of 480 °C. The hardness change is attributed to the precipitation of metastable phases associated with the α-Al15(Fe, Mn)3Si2 phase containing a large amount of impurity elements (Fe and Mn). At a lower temperature of 400 °C, a slight artificial-age hardening appeared. Subsequently, the hardness decreased moderately. This phenomenon was attributed to the precipitation of stable θ-Al2Cu and Q-Al4Cu2Mg8Si6 phases and their coarsening after a long duration. The precipitation sequence was rationalized by thermodynamic calculations for the Al–Si–Cu–Fe–Mn–Mg system. The natural age-hardening behavior significantly varied depending on the prior artificial aging temperatures ranging from 400 °C to 500 °C. The natural age-hardening was found to strongly depend on the solute contents of Cu and Si in the Al matrix. This study provides fundamental insights into controlling the strength level of commercial Al–Si–Cu cast alloys with impurity elements using the cooling process after solution treatment at elevated temperatures above 400 °C. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Aluminum: Present and Future Challenges)
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17 pages, 9767 KiB  
Article
Corrosion Behaviour of High-Strength Al 7005 Alloy and Its Composites Reinforced with Industrial Waste-Based Fly Ash and Glass Fibre: Comparison of Stir Cast and Extrusion Conditions
by Praveen Kumar Swamy, Shantharaja Mylaraiah, Manjunath Patel Gowdru Chandrashekarappa, Avinash Lakshmikanthan, Danil Yurievich Pimenov, Khaled Giasin and Munishamaiah Krishna
Materials 2021, 14(14), 3929; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma14143929 - 14 Jul 2021
Cited by 31 | Viewed by 2078
Abstract
The stringent demand to develop lightweight materials with enhanced properties suitable for various engineering applications is the focus of this research work. Industrial wastes such as fly ash (FA) and S-glass-fibres (GF) were used as reinforcement materials for high-strength alloy, i.e., Al 7005. [...] Read more.
The stringent demand to develop lightweight materials with enhanced properties suitable for various engineering applications is the focus of this research work. Industrial wastes such as fly ash (FA) and S-glass-fibres (GF) were used as reinforcement materials for high-strength alloy, i.e., Al 7005. Stir casting routes were employed for fabricating the four samples, Al 7005, Al 7005 + 5% GF, Al 7005 + 6% FA and Al 7005 + 5% GF + 6% FA. The extrusion process with different extrusion ratios (ER: 5.32:1, and 2.66:1) was used to examine the properties of all four samples. Extruded samples with ER: 5.32: 1 resulted in equiaxed grains with refined structure compared to stir casting parts. The effect of the extrusion process and the addition of reinforcements (GF and FA) on the gravimetric, electrochemical, and electrochemical impedance corrosion behaviour of Al 7005 composites in 1M HCl (Hydrochloric acid) solution were investigated. The results of all three corrosion methods showed that Al 7005 + 6% FA exhibited higher corrosion resistance. Corrosion rate of Al 7005, Al 7005 + 5% GF, Al 7005 + 6% FA and Al 7005 + 5% GF + 6% FA is found equal to 3.25, 2.41, 0.34, and 0.76 mpy, respectively. The FA particles remain inert and act as a physical barrier with corrosive media during the corrosion test. GF undergoes fibre degradation or disrupts the continuity of the glass network as a result of fibre leaching, which increases the corrosion rate in the sample. The gravimetric study showed that the corrosion rates decreased with an increase in extrusion ratio, which might be due to corrosion passivation increases and improved properties. The scanning electron microscopy reveals that corrosion fits, flakes and micro-cracks were observed more in the as-cast composites than that of extrusion composites, promoting the corrosion rate. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Aluminum: Present and Future Challenges)
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