A method for the practice-oriented, operationally reliable production of castings of an AlCu alloy which consists of Cu, Mn, Zr, Fe, Si, Ti, V, remainder Al and unavoidable impurities. A melt which has been melted according to this alloy formula is kept at temperature for several hours and then mixed vigorously at least once. Thereafter, the melt is cast in portions into the respective casting which is then solution annealed at temperature for several hours. The casting is quenched from the solution anneal temperature to a maximum temperature of 300° C., at a specified cooling rate which the casting passes through during quenching. The casting is then artificially aged for several hours at 150-300° C. Finally, the casting is cooled to room temperature.

Provided is a press forming method for a semi-solid material, including: a semi-solid material carrying step of carrying a semi-solid material into a lower die; a first press forming step of regulating, under a Z-direction regulation state in which a change in the Z direction's dimension corresponding to a pressing direction is regulated by an upper die, a change in one of the dimensions in X and Y directions by compressing the material with a transverse punch so that the one becomes equal to a dimension of the product, and then stopping the punch at a position of the compression; and a second press forming step of moving, under a state in which the change in the one is regulated in the above step, the upper die in the pressing direction to compress the material so that the Z direction's dimension becomes equal to the product's dimension.

A titanium composite material includes a titanium matrix material and a powder reinforced composite material with a volume ratio of 10%-70%. The titanium matrix material is disposed at an α phase, a β phase, an α+β phase, an omega phase, or an intermetallic α-1, α-2, α-3 phase. The powder reinforced composite material is selected from a ceramic powder material, a powder material with electric features or a magnetic powder material. Thus, the powder reinforced composite material is added into and combined with the titanium matrix material to form the titanium composite material by casting, agglomerating or pressing, so that the titanium matrix material contains the physical, chemical or electric features of the titanium matrix material and the powder reinforced composite material.

This free-cutting copper alloy contains Cu: 58.5 to 63.5%, Si: more than 0.4% and 1.0% or less, Pb: 0.003 to 0.25%, and P: 0.005 to 0.19%, with the remainder being Zn and inevitable impurities, a total amount of Fe, Mn, Co and Cr is less than 0.40%, a total amount of Sn and Al is less than 0.40%, a relationship of 56.3≤f1=[Cu]−4.7×[Si]+0.5×[Pb]−0.5×[P]≤59.3 is satisfied, constituent phases of a metal structure have relationships of 20≤(α)≤75, 25≤(β)≤80, 0≤(γ)<2, 20≤(γ).sup.1/2×3+(β)×(−0.5×([Si]).sup.2+1.5×[Si])≤78, and 33≤(γ).sup.1/2×3+(β)×(−0.5×([Si]).sup.2+1.5×[Si])+([Pb]).sup.1/2×33+([P]).sup.1/2×14, and a compound including P is present in β phase.

Aluminum alloy components having improved properties. In one form, the cast alloy component may include about 0.6 to about 14.5 wt % silicon, 0 to about 0.7 wt % iron, about 1.8 about 4.3 wt % copper, 0 to about 1.22 wt % manganese, about 0.2 to about 0.5 wt % magnesium, 0 to about 1.2 wt % zinc, 0 to about 3.25 wt % nickel, 0 to about 0.3 wt % chromium, 0 to about 0.5 wt % tin, about 0.0001 to about 0.4 wt % titanium, about 0.002 to about 0.07 wt % boron, about 0.001 to about 0.07 wt % zirconium, about 0.001 to about 0.14 wt % vanadium, 0 to about 0.67 wt % lanthanum, and the balance predominantly aluminum plus any remainders. Further, the weight ratio of Mn/Fe is between about 0.5 and about 3.5. Methods of making cast aluminum parts are also described.

A castable, moldable, or extrudable magnesium-based alloy that includes one or more insoluble additives. The insoluble additives can be used to enhance the mechanical properties of the structure, such as ductility and/or tensile strength. The final structure can be enhanced by heat treatment, as well as deformation processing such as extrusion, forging, or rolling, to further improve the strength of the final structure as compared to the non-enhanced structure. The magnesium-based composite has improved thermal and mechanical properties by the modification of grain boundary properties through the addition of insoluble nanoparticles to the magnesium alloys. The magnesium-based composite can have a thermal conductivity that is greater than 180 W/m-K, and/or ductility exceeding 15-20% elongation to failure.

The invention relates to a method for manufacturing a metal ingot by continuous casting, comprising the following steps: S1: melting the metal, S2: transferring the liquid metal (2) by pouring it into a crucible (12), S3: moving the base plate (14) of the crucible (12), S4: progressive solidification of the liquid metal (2) from the base plate (14) of the crucible (12), and S5: during the step S3 of moving the base plate (14), applying a compression force to the metal (3) which is present between the base plate (14) and the side wall (13), the compression force being applied along a second axis (X2) parallel to the first axis (X1) so as to deform the metal and to obtain an ingot (3) which has a smaller width (L2).

A negative electrode active material includes a silicon-based alloy represented by Si-M.sub.1-M.sub.2-C—B, wherein M.sub.1 and M.sub.2 are different from each other and are each independently selected from magnesium, aluminum, titanium, vanadium, chromium, iron, cobalt, nickel, copper, zinc, gallium, germanium, manganese, yttrium, zirconium, niobium, molybdenum, silver, tin, tantalum, and tungsten. In the silicon-based alloy, Si is in a range of about 50 at % to about 90 at %, M.sub.1 is in a range of about 10 at % to about 50 atom %, and M.sub.2 is in a range of 0 at % to about 10 at %, based on a total number of Si, M.sub.1, and M.sub.2 atoms. C is in a range of about 0.01 to about 30 parts by weight, and B is in a range of 0 to about 5 parts by weight, based on a total of 100 parts by weight of Si, M.sub.1, and M.sub.2.

A system (5) and method (800) for unit cell casting of titanium or titanium-alloys is disclosed herein. The system (5) comprises an external chamber (45), a crucible (10) positioned within the external chamber (45), an induction coil (15) positioned around the crucible, an internal chamber (40) positioned within the external chamber (45), and a mold (30) positioned within the internal chamber (40). The external chamber (45) is evacuated and a pressurized gas is injected into the evacuated external chamber (45) to create a pressurized external chamber (45). An ingot (20) is melted within the crucible utilizing induction heating generated by the induction coil (15). The internal chamber (40) is evacuated to create an evacuated internal chamber (40). The titanium alloy material of the ingot (20) is completely transferred into the mold (30) from the crucible (10) using a pressure differential created between the external chamber (45) and the internal chamber (40).

A method includes moving a first part along a movement path. The method also includes introducing drops of a liquid metal onto the first part using a three-dimensional (3D) printer. The drops of the liquid metal solidify to form a second part that is joined to the first part. The method also includes mechanically joining the second part to a third part.