Abstract
Decreasing microstructural length scales to the nanoscale is a proven way of increasing strength, but the intrinsic metastability of such structures typically makes them susceptible to thermally activated coarsening. Recent advances in additive manufacturing permit bulk-nanostructured materials to be produced through rapid solidification, but like other metastable materials the as-built structures typically coarsen rapidly with even modest thermal exposure. Here, selective laser melting is employed to produce an Al-Ce-based alloy with high mechanical strength arising from the as-built microstructure, which can be controlled by build conditions. In addition, the alloy exhibits extreme resistance to thermal coarsening up to 400 °C and superior strength retention compared to conventional Al alloys after extended thermal exposure. The near-zero solubility of Ce in Al and potent solid solution strengthening of Mg enable this behavior without requiring heat treatment. This result demonstrates that combining insoluble alloying elements with additive manufacturing is a viable method of producing exceptionally stable bulk nanoscale alloys.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 109988 |
| Journal | Materials and Design |
| Volume | 209 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Nov 1 2021 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Funding
Authors would like to thank R. Dehoff, A. Plotkowski, F. List, and P. Nandwana for processing expertise and helpful discussion. This research was sponsored by the Critical Materials Institute, an Energy Innovation Hub funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy and Advanced Manufacturing Office. Portions of the work were performed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344 . This research also used resources of the APS ( Sector 9-ID-C and 6-ID-D ), a U.S. DOE Office of Science User Facility operated for the DOE Office of Science by Argonne National Laboratory under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357 . Work at the Molecular Foundry was supported by the Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, of the U.S. DOE under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231 . Authors would like to thank R. Dehoff, A. Plotkowski, F. List, and P. Nandwana for processing expertise and helpful discussion. This research was sponsored by the Critical Materials Institute, an Energy Innovation Hub funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy and Advanced Manufacturing Office. Portions of the work were performed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344. This research also used resources of the APS (Sector 9-ID-C and 6-ID-D), a U.S. DOE Office of Science User Facility operated for the DOE Office of Science by Argonne National Laboratory under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357. Work at the Molecular Foundry was supported by the Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, of the U.S. DOE under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231. O.R. R.T.O, H.B.H, D.W. and S.K.M. conceived of the project and planned the experiments. H.B.H. J.A.H. T.T.L. A.A.B. Z.C.S, R.T.O. F.M. and M.J.T performed the experiments and analyzed the data. A.P. provided thermodynamic calculations and analysis. H.B.H. S.K.M, R.T.O, and O.R. wrote the manuscript. All authors discussed the results and commented on the paper. Raw/processed data may be provided upon request to the corresponding author.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Critical Materials Institute | |
| Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy and Advanced Manufacturing Office | DE-AC52-07NA27344 |
| U.S. Department of Energy | |
| Office of Science | |
| Basic Energy Sciences | DE-AC02-05CH11231 |
| Argonne National Laboratory | DE-AC02-06CH11357 |
| American Pain Society | 6-ID-D |
Keywords
- Additive manufacturing
- Aluminum alloys
- Nanoscale microstructure
- Rapid solidification
- Thermal coarsening resistance
