The present disclosure generally provides aluminum alloy products having a functional gradient across at least one dimension of the aluminum alloy product. The disclosure also provides articles of manufacture made from such products, and methods of making such products, such as through casting and rolling. The disclosure also provides various end uses of such products, such as in automotive, aerospace, marine, defense, transportation, electronics, and industrial applications.

Disclosed is an aluminum alloy for a new energy vehicle integral die-cast part, a preparation method therefor and an application thereof. The alloy includes 7-9 wt % of Si, 0.05-0.25 wt % of Mg, Cu<0.5 wt %, Zn<0.5 wt %, 0.001-0.20 wt % of B, 0.05-0.2 wt % of Ti, 0.1-0.9 wt % of Mn, 0.05-0.3 wt % of Fe, 0.005-0.5 wt % of Sr, Ce<0.5 wt %, 0.01-0.1 wt % of Zr, 0.001-0.3 wt % of Mo, a sum of weight percentages of remaining impurities being controlled to be 1.0 wt % or less, and the balance being Al. Compared with the prior art, the alloy significantly improves an elongation of a material and effectively improves a strength of the material, such that the material has a tensile strength of 260-300 MPa, a yield strength of 110-130 MPa and an elongation of 10-14%.

A manufacturing process for obtaining extruded products made from a 6xxx aluminium alloy, wherein the said manufacturing process comprises following steps: a) homogenizing a billet cast from said aluminium alloy; b) heating the said homogenised cast billet; c) extruding the said billet through a die to form at least a solid or hollow extruded product; d) quenching the extruded product down to room temperature; e) optionally stretching the extruded product to obtain a plastic deformation typically between 0.5% and 5%; f) ageing the extruded product without applying on the extruded product any separate post-extrusion solution heat treatment between steps d) and f). characterised in that: i) the heating step b) is a solution heat treatment where: b1) the cast billet is heated to a temperature between Ts-15° C. and Ts, wherein Ts is the solidus temperature of the said aluminium alloy; b2) the billet is cooled until billet mean temperature reaches a value between 400° C. and 480° C. while ensuring billet surface never goes below a temperature substantially close to 400° C.; ii) the billet thus cooled is immediately extruded (step c)), i.e. a few tens seconds after the end of step b2).

Methods and systems are provided for continuously producing cast metal components. An exemplary method includes feeding molten metal into a first mold at a fill station; maintaining a pressurized chamber at an elevated pressure; moving the first mold into the pressurized chamber, wherein the molten metal solidifies in the first mold under the elevated pressure; and removing the first mold from the pressurized chamber.

A process for high integrity castings of metals and their alloys includes the steps of providing at least a sand mold at desired elevated temperatures, delivering a molten metal into the mold, and supplying a predetermined amount of coolant to contact the surfaces of the casting at desired rates, times, and durations to achieve an acceptable level of progressive solidification from the distal end of the casting towards the riser until the casting has reached desired temperatures.

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.

A method comprises providing a molten aluminum alloy selected from the group consisting of 6000 series aluminum alloys comprises chromium (Cr) in a range of between 0.001 wt % to 0.05 wt %. The molten aluminum alloy is formed into a formed body having beta-AlFeSi particles. The formed body is solution heat treated at a temperature in a range of 1,025-1,050° F. to form a heat-treated body. The solution heat treating transforms substantially all of the beta-AlFeSi particles into alpha-AlFeSi particles such that the heat-treated body is substantially free of the beta-AlFeSi particles.

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.

Disclosed are an aluminum alloy for a die casting and a method of producing an aluminum alloy casting product. The aluminum alloy may include silicon (Si) in an amount of about 7.5 to 9.5 wt %; magnesium (Mg) in an amount of about 2.5 to 3.5 wt %; iron (Fe) in an amount of about 0.5 to 1.0 wt %; manganese (Mn) in an amount of about 0.1 to 0.6 wt %; and aluminum (Al) constituting the remaining balance of the aluminum alloy, all the wt % are based on the total weight of the aluminum alloy.

A method of optimising one or more physical properties of an alloy comprises conducting a plurality of trials per an experimental design on a plurality of candidate alloys. Each trial comprises measuring a plurality of values of each physical property of the candidate alloys for different values of a plurality of parameters, wherein the parameters comprise respective concentrations of the two or more constituents, and one or more process parameters. The method further comprises fitting the plurality of values of the physical property and the plurality of parameters to a response surface model; and determining, from the fitted response surface model, optimised values of the parameters that optimise the respective responses; wherein the response surface model describes a non-linear relationship between a time integral of each of the physical property and a linear combination of non-linear functions of the plurality of parameters.