Methods to increase solid solution zirconium in aluminum alloys

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10689733-B2
Application number	US-201815896615-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 14, 2018
Priority date	Apr 7, 2017
Publication date	Jun 23, 2020
Grant date	Jun 23, 2020

Abstract

A method of making an aluminum alloy containing zirconium includes heating a first composition including aluminum to a first temperature. The first temperature is greater than or equal to a liquidus temperature of the first composition. The method further includes adding a second composition including a copper-zirconium compound to the first composition. The method further includes decomposing at least a portion of the copper-zirconium compound into copper and zirconium. The method further includes forming a third composition by dissolving at least some of the copper from the decomposing in the aluminum of the first composition. The method further includes cooling the third composition to a second temperature to form a first solid material. The second temperature is less than or equal to a solidus temperature of the third composition. The method further includes heat treating the first solid material to form the aluminum alloy containing zirconium.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of making an aluminum alloy comprising zirconium, the method comprising:
heating a first composition comprising aluminum to a first temperature of greater than or equal to a liquidus temperature of the first composition;
adding a second composition comprising a copper-zirconium compound to the first composition, the copper-zirconium compound is selected from the group consisting of: Cu 9 Zr 2 , Cu 51 Zr 14 , Cu 8 Zr 3 , Cu 10 Zr 7 , CuZr 2 , or a combination thereof;
forming a third composition by decomposing at least a portion of the copper-zirconium compound into copper and zirconium, at least a portion of the copper dissolving in aluminum;
cooling the third composition to a second temperature less than or equal to a solidus temperature of the third composition to form a first solid material;
dissolving at least a portion of the zirconium after the cooling; and
heat treating the first solid material to form the aluminum alloy comprising zirconium.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the heat treating the first solid material facilitates formation of a first plurality of precipitates as a distinct phase in the aluminum alloy comprising zirconium.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the precipitates of the first plurality of precipitates have an average dimension of less than or equal to about 500 microns (μm).

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the precipitates of the first plurality of precipitates have an average dimension of less than or equal to about 500 nanometers (nm).

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the first plurality of precipitates comprises at least one of Zr 3 Al, Al 3 SiZr, (AlSi) 3 (TiVZr), (AlSi) 3 (TiZr), and (AlSi) 2 (VZr).

6. The method of claim 2 , wherein the heat treating the first solid material comprises:
heating the first solid material to a third temperature of less than a solidus of the first solid material to form a second solid material;
cooling the second solid material to a fourth temperature of less than the third temperature to form a third solid material; and
heating the third solid material to a fifth temperature greater than the fourth temperature to form the first plurality of precipitates and form the aluminum alloy comprising zirconium.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the heating the first solid material to the third temperature is performed concurrently with the dissolving at least the portion of the zirconium and a solid solution zirconium content of the second solid material is less than or equal to about 0.2% by mass of the aluminum.

8. The method of claim 2 , wherein the aluminum alloy comprising zirconium further comprises a second plurality of precipitates comprising aluminum and zirconium.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the second plurality of precipitates comprises at least one of Zr 3 Al, Al 3 SiZr, (AlSi) 3 (TiVZr), (AlSi) 3 (TiZr), and (AlSi) 2 (VZr).

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the aluminum alloy comprising zirconium further comprises a third plurality of precipitates comprising the copper-zirconium compound.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the heat treating the first solid material comprises:
heating the first solid material to a third temperature of less than a solidus of the first solid material to form a second solid material;
cooling the second solid material to a fourth temperature of greater than or equal to about 20° C. to less than or equal to about 300° C. to form a third solid material; and
heating the third solid material to a fifth temperature greater than or equal to about 100° C. and less than or equal to about 350° C. to form the first plurality of precipitates and form the aluminum alloy comprising zirconium, wherein:
the first temperature is greater than about 580° C. to less than or equal to about 800° C.;
the second temperature is less than or equal to about 660° C.; and
the cooling the third composition comprises solidifying the third composition at a cooling rate of greater than or equal to about 0.1° C./second to less than or equal to about 100° C./second.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the aluminum alloy comprising zirconium comprises zirconium at greater than or equal to about 0.05% by mass to less than or equal to about 15% by mass.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the aluminum alloy comprising zirconium comprises copper at greater than or equal to about 0.05% by mass to less than or equal to about 10% by mass.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the copper-zirconium compound has the formula Cu x Zr y and comprises: Cu 9 Zr 2 , Cu 51 Zr 14 , Cu 8 Zr 3 , Cu 10 Zr 7 , CuZr, CuZr 2 , Cu a Zr b where a/b is less than or equal to 0.5, or combinations thereof.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the aluminum alloy comprising zirconium comprises an average grain size of greater than or equal to about 10 microns (μm) to less than or equal to about 10 centimeters (cm).

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the aluminum alloy comprising zirconium comprises (i) a casting aluminum alloy selected from the group consisting of: 2xx series, 3xx series, 4xx series, 5xx series, 7xx series, and combinations thereof or (ii) a wrought aluminum alloy selected from the group consisting of: 2xxx series, 3xxx series, 4xxx series, 5xxx series, 6xxx series, 8xxx series, and combinations thereof.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the copper-zirconium compound comprises the CuZr 2 .

18. A method of making an aluminum alloy comprising zirconium, the method comprising:
heating a first composition comprising aluminum to a first temperature of greater than or equal to a liquidus temperature of the first composition;
adding a second composition comprising a copper-zirconium compound to the first composition;
forming a third composition by decomposing at least a first portion of the copper-zirconium compound into copper and zirconium, at least a portion of the copper dissolving in aluminum;
cooling the third composition to a second temperature less than or equal to a solidus temperature of the third composition to form a first solid material;
after the cooling, decomposing a second portion of the copper-zirconium compound into copper and zirconium and dissolving at least a portion of the zirconium in the aluminum; and
heat treating the first solid material to form the aluminum alloy comprising zirconium.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the copper-zirconium composition has a molar composition of greater than or equal to about 41% zirconium to less than or equal to about 67% zirconium and a balance of copper.

Assignees

• Gm Global Tech Operations Llc

Inventors

• Walker Michael J
• Wang Qigui

Classifications

• C22C1/026 Primary

  Alloys based on aluminium · CPC title

• C22F1/04

  of aluminium or alloys based thereon · CPC title

• C22C1/03

  using master alloys · CPC title

• C22C45/001

  with Cu as the major constituent · CPC title

• C22C9/00

  Alloys based on copper · CPC title