LOW CARBON FOOTPRINT ALUMINIUM COMPONENTS FOR E-MOBILITY

In the fast-evolving E‐mobility transformation, the circular economy is one of the key factors to make Europe carbon neutral by 2050, together with sustainability, achievable only with a synergic approach, from raw material choice to recycling, through product design for re‐purposing. Secondary aluminium alloys have a twenty times lower carbon footprint than primary metals, leading to significant CO2savings. Their properties can satisfy engineering targets through optimized product design. Adopting a smartsystem layout, in which functions are assigned to assemblies, some of the low‐end mechanical properties of secondary alloys can be offset. Design for easy disassembling can then guarantee a selective re‐purposing and, finally, an environmentally friendly recycling of components. Innovative products in this field have been developed and successfully produced by means of an optimized high-pressure die casting (HPDC) technology, adopting low carbon footprint raw materials supplied in alternative to ingot format. In this study, a housing component for an e-mobility module battery was manufactured using EN AC 46000 alloy (AlSi9Cu3(Fe)), sourced from automotive industry scraps. The selected scraps were melted and cast to form the battery housing. Consequently, both the initial scraps and the resulting components underwent comprehensive analysis to evaluate the alloy's quality. Chemical analyses, hardness tests, andmi-crostructural observations were performed. The findings confirm a refined and high-quality microstructure in the casting, affirming the viability of producing battery housing through High-Pressure Die Casting (HPDC) using exclusively recycled alloy

incremental sheet forming for prototyping automotive modules

Abstract Actually, in many industrial applications, like automotive industry, mass decreases and fuel economy constitute very important features. Light alloys are extensively used in automotive applications and simultaneously, the constant industrial progress forces low-cost innovative machining routes to be used after the manufacturing process oriented to transform the product into a right shape with high accuracy of the geometry and good surface quality. In this paper, a general overview of the actual state-of- the-art about the Incremental Sheet Forming (ISF) is presented including some experimentally results of the current research in this field performed by the authors. The target of the research is oriented on the validation of the possibility to use a common milling machine, as ISF apparatus, and to find the most suitable process parameters to be assumed for the production of automotive sheet made by Ti alloys

Gestione delle anime inorganiche nell’industria fusoria dell’alluminio: stato dell’arte

Nell’industria fusoria dell’alluminio il tema della gestione delle anime da fonderia è di particolare rilievo. L’obiettivo dell’azzeramento delle emissioni inquinanti in atmosfera, in un’ottica di impatto ambientale eco-friendly, ha fatto sì che sia tendenza crescente nelle fonderie l’adozione di anime basate su sistemi di leganti inorganici. In presenza di alti volumi produttivi di componenti ottenuti tramite colata in conchiglia permanente, le anime a legante inorganico sono da prediligere in quanto permettono di eliminare emissioni nocive e migliorare la produttività complessiva dell’impianto. Tuttavia, l’adozione di tali anime comporta la necessità di adottare particolari accorgimenti al fine di garantirne il loro corretto utilizzo, ottimizzando così il processo di colata. Infatti, l’igroscopicità di questa tipologia di anime può creare importanti difettologie in fase di colata dei getti, nonché indebolimento delle anime e loro possibile frattura, spostamento o deformazioni in fase di colata. L’obiettivo di questo lavoro è presentare uno stato dell’arte sull’attualità industriale, relativo alle fonderie di alluminio, in termini di adozione di anime realizzate con sistemi leganti inorganici, loro gestione e possibili difetti nei getti ad esse correlati. Tale stato dell’arte sarà tale da guidare il più possibile verso i know-how necessari ad ottimizzare al meglio gestione ed adozione delle anime

Development and Characterization of New Functionally Graded Aluminium Alloys

Nowadays, aluminium alloys are adopted mainly to produce engineering and automotive components. The present investigation aims to design, cast and characterize novel functionally graded materials (FGMs) produced using Al-Mg and Al-Si alloys by gravity casting technique. Alloys were sequentially cast into a mould to obtain an FGM to realizing great mechanical and metallurgical bonding. Zn addition was further performed in FGM to increase the mechanical properties, thanks to the nucleation of the intermetallic phases MgZn2. Castings were subsequently mechanically tested by tensile tests, bending tests, hardness and microhardness measures to assess the products\u27 quality. Microstructural characterizations were performed along the FGM to assess the metallurgical bonding and evaluate the microstructures obtained. Fracture, microstructural and compositional analysis will highlight the quality of this new FGM proposed. Possible applications of these materials are suggested, as automotive pistons or structural components

MIG and TIG Joining of AA1070 Aluminium Sheets with Different Surface Preparations

In this work, AA1070 aluminium alloy sheets are joined using TIG and MIG welding after three different edge preparations. Shearing, water jet and plasma-cut processes were used to cut sheets, subsequently welded using ER5356 and ER4043 filler metals for TIG and MIG, respectively. Mechanical properties of the obtained sheets were assessed through tensile tests obtaining a relation between sheet preparation and welding tightness. Micro-hardness measures were performed to evaluate the effects of both welding and cutting processes on the micro-hardness of the alloy, highlighting that TIG welding gives rise to inhomogeneous micro-hardness behaviour. After tensile tests, surface fractures were observed employing scanning electron microscopy to highlight the relation between tensile properties and edge preparations. Fractures show severe oxidation in the water jet cut specimens, ductile fractures and gas porosities

Perfluoropolyether-Based Micellar Aggregates Coatings for Corrosion Resistance Enhancement of Copper-Based Alloys

In this paper, a perfluoropolyether (PFPE) micellar solution was effectively deposited on metallic substrates using a dip-coating process to enhance brass and nickel aluminum bronze (NAB) corrosion resistance. Particular attention was paid to the aesthetic results as well. Enabling the metallic substrates hydrophobic to facilitate water and moisture removal was the key concept of this work. The corrosion resistance of the as-received and coated metals was investigated via a salt spray chamber test. The study focused on the characterization of the polymeric coating via dynamic light scattering and wettability tests, while the substrates were assessed with traditional metallographic techniques. The preparation of the polymeric solution was important in determining the final corrosion resistance of the two substrates. Noteworthy was the effectiveness of the PFPE-based coating when it was applied to the brass rather than the NAB. Moreover, the polymer concentration of the dip-coating polymeric emulsion was the most significant factor to obtaining adequate protection: higher polymer concentrations resulted in a decrease in corrosion resistance

Effetto di affinante e modificante sulla microstruttura delle leghe Al-Si da colata = Effect of refining and modification on the microstructure of Al-Si casting alloys

La necessità di ridurre le emissioni di CO2 ha spinto i produttori di veicoli verso l’adozione di materiali in grado di garantire una riduzione del peso quanto più possibile consistente. Per questa ragione, oltre che per le buone proprietà meccaniche specifiche, le leghe alluminio-silicio trovano vasta applicazione nel settore dell’autoveicolo. Sebbene le leghe Al-Si siano leghe note e oggetto di numerosissimi studi, un ulteriore passo in avanti può coinvolgere la valutazione degli effetti degli additivi modificanti ed affinanti sulla microstruttura della lega e sulla forma delle fasi intermetalliche. In questo lavoro, dei getti in lega EN AC 45300 (AlSi5Cu1Mg), verranno analizzati nello stato as-cast e in seguito a trattamento termico T6, con e senza l’adozione di agenti affinanti e modificanti, con l’obiettivo di studiare le evoluzioni che avvengono nelle microstrutture in termini di morfologia delle fasi intermetalliche

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements