Nanomodification of aluminum alloys

TL;DR

This paper explores the use of nanoparticles to modify aluminum alloys, focusing on their unique properties, effects on microstructure, and a novel method for incorporating nanopowders into liquid metal to improve casting quality.

Contribution

It introduces an efficient method for adding nanopowders into aluminum alloys using rods or wires, enabling structure refinement with minimal nanopowder content.

Findings

Nanoparticles alter atomic structure and properties of aluminum alloys.

The proposed method effectively introduces nanopowders into liquid metal.

Finer grains lead to improved mechanical properties in cast products.

Abstract

NPs are ultrafine-grain crystal or amorphous substances which are as small as 100nm. They have unique physical, chemical and mechanical properties, which are very different from those of large scale materials. This uniqueness is attributed to the fact that the number of atoms in the surface layer and in the bulk is commensurable. As the atoms in the surface layer of nanoparticles have their counterparts from one side only, their balance is impaired, and the resulting structure relaxation leads to the displacement of atomic spacing in a 2-3nm layer. Therefore the surface layers expand while internal layers compressed, as these are exposed to an excessive Laplace pressure of up to hundreds kilobars. Nanoparticles have a highly distorted lattice that has an effect on activation energy of most of the processes they are involved in, by changing their nature and sequence. Nanoscale implies absolutely new effects, properties and processes which are defined by the laws of quantum mechanics, size quantization in small-scale structures, surface-bulk ratio, and other factors. Due to exceptionally small sizes and good reactivity of NP particles, it looks promising to use them in metal melts as crystallization centers to enable structure refinement of cast products. As well known, the grains are finer, the better are mechanical properties of cast products produced from these alloys. After considering a number of options, an efficient method of nanopowder introduction into a liquid metal was proposed. This method avoids all of the above problems and consists in pressing of 5-9.5mm diameter rods or wires that contain aluminum particles (granules and nanopowder). Nanopowder contents in rods added NP to alloys being no more than 0.05%, and sometimes even thousandths of one percent.