2022 R&D 100 Award for DuAlumin-3D: An Additively Manufactured Dual-Strengthened Aluminum Alloy Designed for Extreme Creep and Fatigue Resistance

  • Plotkowski, Alex (Recipient), Wang, Qigui (Recipient), Jones, Jonaaron (Recipient), Wang, Andy (Recipient), Hess, Devin (Recipient), Wilson, Dan (Recipient), Gerard, Dale (Recipient), Burkle, Devon (Recipient), Jones, Rachel (Recipient), Stansberry, Charles (Recipient), Shyam, Amit (Recipient), Dehoff, Ryan (Recipient), Haynes, J. Allen (Recipient), Michi, Richard A. (Recipient), Bahl, Sumit (Recipient), Yang, Ying (Recipient), Allard, Larry (Recipient), Poplawsky, Jonathan (Recipient), Peter, Bill (Recipient), Splitter, Derek (Recipient), Jun, Jiheon (Recipient) & Sisco, Kevin (Recipient)

Prize: Honorary award

Description

In response to a need for more resilient, lightweight aluminum alloys, ORNL researchers designed DuAlumin-3D, an aluminum alloy with a combination of tensile, creep, fatigue and corrosion properties superior to all known cast, wrought and printable aluminum alloys.

DuAlumin-3D is designed to take advantage of the unique thermal conditions that occur during the laser additive manufacturing process. The alloy takes its name from dual strengthening mechanisms: a nanoscale microstructure that forms during printing and precipitates that form upon heat treatment. Because of these microstructural features, the alloy retains more than half its strength at high temperatures of 300 to 315 degrees and is stable up to 400 degrees C.

Funding for this project was provided by the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s Vehicle Technologies Office and Advanced Manufacturing Office.

Principal investigators for this research include ORNL’s Alex Plotkowski, GM’s Qigui Wang and Beehive3D’s Jonaaron Jones; GM’s Andy Wang, Devin Hess, Dan Wilson and Dale Gerard; Beehive Industries’s Devon Burkle, Rachel Jones and Charles Stansberry; and ORNL’s Amit Shyam, Ryan Dehoff, Allen Haynes, Richard Michi, Sumit Bahl, Ying Yang, Larry Allard, Jon Poplawsky, Bill Peter, Derek Splitter and Jiheon Jun. The University of Tennessee’s Kevin Sisco also contributed to the development.

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