Ultra-high strength and corrosion resistant aluminum alloys via a combination of alloying elements and associated process

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11313012-B2
Application number	US-201916281337-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 21, 2019
Priority date	Feb 21, 2018
Publication date	Apr 26, 2022
Grant date	Apr 26, 2022

Abstract

A method of making an alloy includes mechanically alloying aluminum with an alloying element to form an alloy. The method may include a subsequent step of compacting the alloy powder to form an aluminum alloy compact. The alloying element may be chromium (Cr), nickel (Ni), molybdenum (Mo), titanium (Ti), manganese (Mn), vanadium (V), niobium (Nb), or silicon (Si).

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of making an aluminum alloy compact, the method comprising steps of
mechanically alloying aluminum powder with an alloying element metal powder to thereby form an alloy powder, wherein the mechanically alloying step is high energy ball milling, and
compacting the alloy powder to thereby form an aluminum alloy compact, wherein the compacting step is a cold compacting step occurring without an applied heat source, wherein the step of compacting occurs at a pressure at least above 1 GPa,
wherein the compacting step includes pelletization such that the aluminum alloy compact is an aluminum alloy pellet,
wherein the aluminum alloy pellet has a pitting potential more positive than −550 mV SCE , and
wherein the aluminum alloy pellet has a hardness of at least 100 HV.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the aluminum alloy pellet has a diameter in the range of from 0.5 mm to 10 cm.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the aluminum alloy pellet has a corrosion resistance in the range of from −500 mV SCE to +100 mV SCE .

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the aluminum alloy pellet has a hardness in the range of from 100 HV to 1000 HV.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein a plurality of the aluminum alloy pellets are formed and collected, each of the aluminum alloy pellets having a diameter or overall length of less than 10 cm.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the alloy powder includes from 50 to 99 atomic percent of the aluminum powder and from 1 to 50 atomic percent of the alloying element metal powder, wherein the alloying element metal powder is made from a metal selected from the group consisting of chromium (Cr), nickel (Ni), molybdenum (Mo), titanium (Ti), manganese (Mn), vanadium (V), niobium (Nb), and silicon (Si).

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the alloying element metal powder is made from a metal selected from the group consisting of vanadium (V) and niobium (Nb).

8. A method of making an aluminum alloy compact, the method comprising steps of
combining aluminum powder, an alloying element metal powder, and grinding balls in a ball mill rotation pot,
rotating the ball mill rotation pot in a disk-planetary ball mill to thereby form an alloy powder from the aluminum powder and the alloying element metal powder, wherein the alloy powder includes from 50 to 99 atomic percent of the aluminum powder and from 1 to 50 atomic percent of the alloying element metal powder, wherein the disk-planetary ball mill is a high-energy ball mill,
filling a receptacle of a die with the alloy powder, and
compacting the alloy powder within the die to thereby form an aluminum alloy compact, wherein the step of compacting is a cold compacting step occurring without an applied heat source, wherein the step of compacting occurs at a pressure at least above 1 GPa,
wherein the alloying element metal powder is made from a metal selected from the group consisting of vanadium (V) and niobium (Nb),
wherein the aluminum alloy compact has a pitting potential more positive than −400 mV SCE and a hardness of at least 200 HV.

Assignees

• Gupta Rajeev
• Esquivel Javier
• Univ Akron

Inventors

• Gupta Rajeev
• Esquivel Javier

Classifications

• C22C1/1084 Primary

  by mechanical alloying (blending, milling) · CPC title

• B22F2999/00

  Aspects linked to processes or compositions used in powder metallurgy · CPC title

• B22F2998/10

  Processes characterised by the sequence of their steps · CPC title

• B22F2301/052

  Aluminium · CPC title

• B22F2303/01

  Main component · CPC title