Double Fault Aluminum Alloy is Strong as Steel

Jan-29-18 Researchers have developed an aluminum alloy that is corrosion resistant and almost as strong as stainless steel.

The alloy, from a team at Purdue University, was created by introducing a stacking fault, which occurs when a metal’s crystal lattice sequence is missing a layer. A type of fault called a 9R phase, which consists of two layers of stacking faults known as twin boundaries, has been shown to increase a metal’s strength, but that sequence has been difficult to introduce in aluminum because of the metal’s tendency to correct the faults.

To overcome this self-fixing habit, the team created the 9R phase in the aluminum in two different ways: shock-induced with a laser beam of silicon dioxide; and magnetron sputtering, which introduced iron atoms into the crystal structure of the aluminum. The result was a “nanotwinned” aluminum-iron alloy with a strength comparable to stainless steels.

More Info about this Invention:

[NEWATLAS.COM]
[PURDUE.EDU]

---