Dear Colleagues,

The global production of aluminum alloys has been increasing over the past few decades due to the increasing application of aluminum alloys in the automotive, aerospace, building, and other industries. These applications are possible thanks to the main properties of low density, good castability, low melting point, short casting cycles, relatively low susceptibility to hot cracking, good as-cast surface finish, chemical stability, and others when compared to other metallic and nonmetallic materials. The application of aluminum alloys in industry is also important in order to decrease weight and reduce fuel consumption, especially in the transport industry. The amount of aluminum used per car produced in Europe almost tripled between 1990 and 2012, increasing from 50 to 140 kg. This amount is predicted to rise to 180 kg after 2020. Research works show that a 10% reduction in the weight of a car leads to a 7% decrease in fuel use and that each 100 kg saved leads to a 9 g decrease in CO₂ emission. The decrease in car weight is also very important for the production of modern electric cars (20% less weight creates a 20% increase in range for electric cars).

The great objective of the European Union for the year 2015 was that 85% of the car weight would be re-used or recycled, 10% would be used to recover energy, and 5% would be used for scrap. Nowadays, manufacturers currently use about 35% secondary aluminum and about 65% primary aluminum to meet their needs. Therefore, the future success of aluminum and its alloys depends not only on the further improvements of existing and secondary alloys but also on the development of novel aluminum alloys. Every change in casting, forming, modification, heat treatment, recycling, grain refinement, precipitation of secondary phases, and other processing steps affects the microstructure and thus changes the properties of aluminum alloys.

This Special Issue of Metals is focused on relationships between structure and properties of aluminum alloys. The papers presented in this Special Issue will give an account of the scientific and technological state of the art of aluminum alloys (see the Keywords/Topics below) in 2021. Your contribution to this account will be highly valued and appreciated. We invite you to contribute research work that relates to the effects of different production factors on the structure and properties of aluminum alloys.

Dr. Lenka Kuchariková
Prof. Dr. Mirosław Bonek
Guest Editors

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• Aluminum alloys
• Recycling of aluminum alloys
• New types of aluminum alloys
• Microstructure change
• Mechanical properties
• Fatigue properties
• Corrosion
• Heat treatment
• Casting process
• Manufacturing