Christian Doppler Laboratory for Advanced Aluminum Alloys
The Christian Doppler Laboratory for Advanced Aluminum Alloys aims to ensure a more sustainable mobility. Especially the global needs for the reduction of CO2 emissions and to save energy lead to an enormous pressure to make structural materials for transportation issues lighter. This has triggered a trend towards aluminum alloys, not only in the mass production of aircrafts, but also for vehicles. To do so, aluminum alloys face a general conflict in materials engineering. Complex and lightweight design parts require high formability. The material must, however, also guaranty a high strength in service (crash performance, resistance against hail damage, …). One of the biggest general challenges in materials engineering is to combine high strength with good formability and ductility, since conventional strengthening strategies lead to reduced formability and ductility. Unfortunately, this conflict is more pronounced for aluminum alloys than for the in the automotive industry commonly used but heavier steels. Enhanced combination of formability and strength, i. e. a solution of the conflict between hard and soft, will be crucial for the success of new aluminum materials in mass production transportation applications. This intractable conflicts of high formability/ductility and high strength of aluminum alloys is the major subject of the Christian Doppler Laboratory for Advanced Aluminum Alloys.
Approach
We develop “switchable” properties in a better controllable manner, to enable for soft wrought aluminum alloys during forming and hard alloys in application. Moreover, we work on an industrially relevant direct optimization of the strength-ductility trade-off.
“Switchable alloys” address the development of “switchable” properties in a better controllable manner, to enable for soft wrought aluminum alloys during forming and hard alloys in application. We work on new alloys with micro-alloying elements. For example we want to understand the mechanisms, which enable an industrial application of new ultra-stable 6xxx alloys or aim to develop concepts for new high-strength 6xxx-alloys.
“Cross-over alloys” address an industrially relevant optimization of the strength-ductility trade-off, to offer more ductile/better deformable high strength aluminum alloys. New wrought aluminum alloys are created via breaking composition laws of common alloy classes. We aim to bring together the best from different types of alloys and want to understand the fundamental mechanisms, which enable high formability and high strength in the dedicated alloy classes and evaluate possible combination strategies.
“Microstructure engineering” addresses an industrially relevant optimization of the formability/strength trade-off. It focuses on the grain-structure and texture of wrought aluminum alloys. We want to understand microstructure and texture formation and its experimental characterization in wrought aluminum alloys. We aim to produce alloys with controlled microstructure and texture in laboratory scale and transfer this to the industrial scale.
“Rapid alloys” address the potential of high cooling rates to realize strong super-saturation of un-dissolvable elements or the formation of new metastable phases. This may either lead to fine grained microstructure during or totally new phases, where the impact on the mechanical behaviour cannot be predicted today. In one example we simulate the thermal conditions present during additive manufacturing for a rapid design of new alloys in laboratory scale.
