Aluminum wheels and methods for casting aluminum wheels using high scrap aluminum content

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12370827-B2
Application number	US-202318358577-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 25, 2023
Priority date	Jan 5, 2023
Publication date	Jul 29, 2025
Grant date	Jul 29, 2025

Abstract

A method for casting an aluminum wheel comprises preparing a melt having a predetermined chemistry and including silicon in a range from 8.5 to 10% mass and aluminum; degassing and refining the melt; adding a grain refiner including aluminum-titanium-vanadium-boron (Al—Ti—V—B) and a master alloy to the melt; and casting the aluminum wheel.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for casting an aluminum wheel including a hub, a rim, and a plurality of spokes connected the hub to the rim, the method comprising:
preparing a melt having a predetermined chemistry and including silicon in a range from 8.5 to 10% mass, iron (Fe) in a range from 0.1 to 0.25% mass, and aluminum comprising greater than or equal to 70% mass scrap aluminum;
degassing and refining the melt;
adding a grain refiner including aluminum-titanium-vanadium-boron (Al—Ti—V—B) and a master alloy to the melt; and
casting the aluminum wheel,
wherein the aluminum wheel has an average grain size of a spoke region in a range from 50 μm to 250 μm.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the melt comprises greater than 70% mass scrap aluminum.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein casting the aluminum wheel includes tilt casting the aluminum wheel at a predetermined temperature in a range from 680° C. to 720° C.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
casting the aluminum wheel includes low pressure die casting (LPDC) the aluminum wheel at a predetermined temperature in a range from 680° C. to 720° C.; and
a die configured to cast the aluminum wheel is made of a tooling steel having a thermal conductivity greater than 32 in a temperature range from 200° C. to 600° C.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the melt includes greater than 300 parts per million vanadium.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the melt further includes:
magnesium (Mg) in a range from 0.25 to 0.4% mass;
copper (Cu) in a range from 0.01 to 0.2% mass;
zinc (Zn) in a range from 0.01 to 0.2% mass;
titanium (Ti) in a range from 0.01 to 0.2% mass;
strontium (Sr) in a range from 10 ppm to 200 ppm;
chromium (Cr) in a range from 0.01 to 0.2% mass;
manganese (Mn) in a range from 0.01 to 0.2% mass; and
vanadium (V) in a range from 0.03 to 0.05% mass.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the melt further includes:
magnesium (Mg) in a range from 0.25 to 0.4% mass;
copper (Cu) in a range from 0.01 to 0.1% mass;
zinc (Zn) in a range from 0.01 to 0.1% mass;
titanium (Ti) in a range from 0.01 to 0.15% mass;
strontium (Sr) in a range from 50 ppm to 200 ppm;
chromium (Cr) in a range from 0.01 to 0.15% mass;
manganese (Mn) in a range from 0.01 to 0.15% mass; and
vanadium (V) in a range from 0.03 to 0.05% mass.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the aluminum wheel has an average secondary dendrite arm spacing (SDAS) in a range from 20 μm to 30 μm in a spoke region.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein a tensile sample cut from a spoke region of the aluminum wheel has a yield strength greater than 170 MPa and tensile elongation greater than 3%.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the aluminum wheel has:
an average secondary dendrite arm spacing (SDAS) of the spoke region in a range from 20 μm to 30 μm;
a yield strength greater than 170 MPa; and
an elongation to fracture greater than 3%.

11. An aluminum wheel comprising:
a hub;
a rim; and
a plurality of spokes connected the hub to the rim,
wherein the aluminum wheel is cast and includes:
silicon (Si) in a range from 8.5 to 10% mass;
iron (Fe) in a range from 0.1 to 0.25% mass; and
aluminum comprising greater than or equal to 70% mass scrap aluminum, and

wherein the aluminum wheel has an average grain size of a spoke region in a range from 50 μm to 250 μm.

12. The aluminum wheel of claim 11 , wherein the aluminum wheel further includes:
magnesium (Mg) in a range from 0.25 to 0.4% mass;
copper (Cu) in a range from 0.01 to 0.2% mass;
zinc (Zn) in a range from 0.01 to 0.2% mass;
titanium (Ti) in a range from 0.01 to 0.2% mass;
strontium (Sr) in a range from 10 ppm to 200 ppm;
chromium (Cr) in a range from 0.01 to 0.2% mass;
manganese (Mn) in a range from 0.01 to 0.2% mass; and
vanadium (V) in a range from 0.03 to 0.05% mass.

13. The aluminum wheel of claim 12 , wherein the silicon (Si) is in a range from 8.5 to 9.5% mass.

14. The aluminum wheel of claim 11 , wherein the aluminum wheel further includes:
magnesium (Mg) in a range from 0.25 to 0.4% mass;
copper (Cu) in a range from 0.01 to 0.1% mass;
zinc (Zn) in a range from 0.01 to 0.1% mass;
titanium (Ti) in a range from 0.01 to 0.15% mass;
strontium (Sr) in a range from 50 ppm to 200 ppm;
chromium (Cr) in a range from 0.01 to 0.15% mass;
manganese (Mn) in a range from 0.01 to 0.15% mass; and
vanadium (V) in a range from 0.03 to 0.05% mass.

15. The aluminum wheel of claim 11 , wherein the aluminum wheel has an average secondary dendrite arm spacing (SDAS) of the spoke region in a range from 20 μm to 30 μm.

16. The aluminum wheel of claim 11 , wherein the aluminum wheel has a yield strength greater than 170 MPa.

17. The aluminum wheel of claim 11 , wherein the aluminum wheel has at least one of:
a yield strength greater than 200s MPa; and
an elongation to fracture greater than 3%.

18. The aluminum wheel of claim 11 , wherein the aluminum wheel has an elongation to fracture greater than 3%.

19. The aluminum wheel of claim 11 , wherein the aluminum wheel has:
an average secondary dendrite arm spacing (SDAS) of the spoke region in a range from 20 μm to 30 μm;
a yield strength greater than 170 MPa; and
an elongation to fracture greater than 3%.

20. The aluminum wheel of claim 11 , wherein the aluminum wheel is a low pressure die cast aluminum wheel.

Assignees

• Gm Global Tech Operations Llc

Inventors

• Zhan Henry
• Liu Libing
• Wang Jianfeng
• Zhang Yunhu

Classifications

• B22D21/00 Primary

  Casting non-ferrous metals or metallic compounds so far as their metallurgical properties are of importance for the casting procedure; Selection of compositions therefor {(non-ferrous ingots B22D7/005)} · CPC title

• C22C21/02

  with silicon as the next major constituent · CPC title

• B60B2310/202

  by casting · CPC title

• C22B21/0092

  Remelting scrap, skimmings or any secondary source aluminium · CPC title

• C22C1/026 Primary

  Alloys based on aluminium · CPC title