The present disclosure provides an aluminum alloy workpiece and a preparation method thereof. By optimizing a composition of the aluminum alloy workpiece, the aluminum alloy workpiece can be prepared by laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) in the preparation method, thereby forming a target metallographic phase. The preparation method overcomes the problem that the composition of a high temperature-resistant and high-strength aluminum alloy designed based on the traditional casting and forging process cannot be matched with the LPBF, and makes full use of rapid cooling of the LPBF to prepare an aluminum alloy composition of a target crystal phase. The preparation method combines the aluminum alloy composition with the LPBF to achieve mutual promotion, thereby forming a target workpiece, such that an aluminum alloy with high strength and toughness at room temperature/high temperature can be prepared by the LPBF.

Methods for large-scale additive manufacturing of high-strength boron nitride nanotubes (BNNT) / aluminum (Al) (e.g., reinforced Al alloy) metal matrix composites (MMCs) (BNNT/A1 MMCs), as well as the BNNT/A1 MMCs produced by the large-scale additive manufacturing methods, are provided. A combination of ultrasonication and spray drying techniques can produce good BNNT/Al alloy feedstock powders, which can be used in a cold spraying process.

Some variations provide an aluminum alloy feedstock for additive manufacturing, the aluminum alloy feedstock comprising from 81.5 wt % to 88.8 wt % aluminum; from 1.1 wt % to 2.1 wt % copper; from 3.0 wt % to 4.6 wt % magnesium; and from 7.1 wt % to 9.0 wt % zinc. The aluminum alloy feedstock may be in the form of a free-flowing powder or a feedstock ingot, for example. In some variations, the aluminum alloy feedstock comprises from 84.9 wt % to 88.3 wt % aluminum; from 1.2 wt % to 2.0 wt % copper; from 3.2 wt % to 4.4 wt % magnesium; and from 7.3 wt % to 8.7 wt % zinc.

An abradable powder composition is includes a metal component, a lubricant component, and a polymer component. A portion of the metal component is wrapped in the lubricant component to achieve high lubricity and abradability. The abradable powder composition can be used to form an abradable seal coating provided for use in a turbo machinery having a housing and a wheel having multiple blades. The housing houses the wheel which rotates therein. The seal coating is formed on the inner walls of housing adjacent where the wheel blades pass during their rotation. When the wheel is rotated such that the blades contact the seal coating, it is abraded to form a close fit gap. The abradable seal coating preferably does not produce significant wear of the blade tips or transfer abradable material significantly to the blade tips upon being abraded.

A connecting assembly for releasably connecting first and second parts includes a first connector including a frame part that has a receiving opening, at least one first snap fit structure integrally formed with the frame part and extending in the receiving opening, and a first coupling interface for coupling the first connector to the first part, and a second connector including a plug-in part that has an outer shape corresponding to the receiving opening of the frame part so that the plug-in part can be introduced into the receiving opening, at least one second snap fit structure integrally formed with the plug-in part on an inner surface of the plug-in part, the second snap fit structure being configured to releasably engage with the first snap fit structure, and a second coupling interface for coupling the second connector to the second part.

A method for producing a TiAl alloy member includes a molding step (S10) of laminating a solidified body obtained by melting and solidifying or sintering powder of a TiAl alloy by irradiation of the powder with a beam, to mold a laminated body; and a heat treatment step (S12) of heating the laminated body at a setting temperature that is equal to or higher than a temperature at which a phase transformation to an α phase is initiated, to produce a TiAl alloy member. By the method for producing a TiAl alloy member, the TiAl alloy member can be easily molded with a decrease in high temperature properties suppressed.

A method for preparing a rare earth aluminum alloy powder applicable for additive manufacturing includes: heating and melting aluminum ingots into an aluminum melt; adding required alloy elements to the aluminum melt to obtain an alloy melt in which the alloy elements are present in the following preset percentages by weight: 1.00% to 10.00% of Ce, 0.05% to 8.00% of Mg, 0.10% to 7.50% of Y, 0.10% to 2.50% of Zr, less than 0.1% of impurities, and the balance aluminum; leading out the alloy melt through a fluid guiding pipe, and impacting the alloy melt with a high-pressure gas flow so that the alloy melt is atomized into fine droplets under an action of surface tension, and solidified into spherical alloy powder; and collecting the spherical alloy powder in a vacuum collector, and screening and drying the spherical alloy powder to obtain the rare earth aluminum alloy powder.

The present invention provides: an aluminum alloy member which can be manufactured at a relatively low cost and has a light weight, and which can have high dimensional accuracy under a high-temperature environment and is less likely to undergo the color-fading of a blackened surface even under a high-temperature environment, and has excellent heat resistance; and a method for manufacturing the aluminum alloy member with high efficiency. The aluminum alloy member according to the present invention comprises: a substrate which comprises an extruded material of an aluminum powder alloy having an Si content of 20 to 40% by mass and has an anodic oxide coating film formed on the surface thereof, and an electrolytically colored layer which is formed by precipitating a metal or a metal salt on voids in the anodic oxide coating film.

Disclosed is a process for producing a component from a TiAl alloy by layer-by-layer deposition of powder on a substrate and/or an already produced semifinished product. The component has a proportion of x at % of aluminum which is in the range from about 34 to about 47 at % of aluminum, the powder having a proportion of x+1 at % to x+6 at % of aluminum. Also disclosed is a component formed from a Tim alloy which has been produced by a corresponding process.

The disclosure relates to additively manufactured (AM) composite structures such as panels for use in transport structures or other mechanized assemblies. An AM core may be optimized for an intended application of a panel. In various embodiments, one or more values such as strength, stiffness, density, energy absorption, ductility, etc. may be optimized in a single AM core to vary across the AM core in one or more directions for supporting expected load conditions. In an embodiment, the expected load conditions may include forces applied to the AM core or corresponding panel from different directions in up to three dimensions. Where the structure is a panel, face sheets may be affixed to respective sides of the core. The AM core may be a custom honeycomb structure. In other embodiments, the face sheets may have custom 3-D profiles formed traditionally or through additive manufacturing to enable structural panels with complex profiles. The AM core may include a protrusion to provide fixturing features to enable external connections. In other embodiments, inserts, fasteners, or internal channels may be co-printed with the core. In still other embodiments, the AM core may be used in a composite structure such as, for example a rotor blade or a vehicle component.