CD Laboratory for Deformation - Precipitation lnteractions in Aluminum Alloys

In this CD Laboratory, aluminum alloys with high contents of recycled aluminum and their properties are studied to find new ways to produce high performance alloys in a sustainable way.

Thanks to its low density, aluminum is particularly important for lightweight construction in the mobility and transportation industry. However, the primary production of the metal is very energy- and emission-intensive and thus contradicts the goals of sustainability.

One solution is to use recycled (secondary) aluminum: this could save up to 95% energy in the production phase. However, recycling poses challenges: with each recycling cycle, impurities accumulate in the alloy, which, without additional measures, would impair the material quality and thus the functionality and service life of the resulting components and products based on them.

The CD Laboratory is therefore looking for solutions to minimise the negative influence of such impurities in secondary aluminum on the material quality or, in the best case, to use them specifically for the design of the microstructure: Even small changes in the composition of (aluminum) alloys have a considerable influence on the microstructural components in terms of type, volume fraction and distribution, which in turn affects the processability and formability of the end products. To ensure that these effects are not negative in practice, a comprehensive understanding of the mutual influences and interactions that occur is necessary in order to be able to design the alloys as ideally as possible for the respective applications.

The laboratory team is therefore carrying out a comprehensive systemic investigation of the effects of tramp elements on the microstructure of various (established and newly developed) aluminum alloys as a central research task: The aim is to determine the optimum microstructures, textures and phase distributions in order to improve both the corrosion resistance and the mechanical properties of aluminum alloys. In this way, a contribution is to be made to the development of sustainable and high-performance structural materials.

In addition, the development of sustainable energy storage solutions is also being driven forward: The knowledge gained in processing and microstructure development can be incorporated into the further development of anode materials in aluminum batteries in order to reduce the dependence on high-purity aluminum without compromising performance.