An aluminum alloy that can be cast into structural components wherein at least some of the raw materials used to produce the alloy are sourced from secondary production sources. In addition to aluminum as the primary constituent, such an alloy includes 5 to 14% silicon, 0 to 1.5% copper, 0.2 to 0.55% magnesium, 0.2 to 1.2% iron, 0.1 to 0.6% manganese, 0 to 0.5% nickel, 0 to 0.8% zinc, 0 to 0.2% of other trace elements selected from the group consisting essentially of titanium, zirconium, vanadium, molybdenum and cobalt. In a preferred form, most of the aluminum is from a secondary production source. Methods of analyzing a secondary production aluminum alloy to determine its constituent makeup is also disclosed, as is a method of adjusting the constituent makeup of such an alloy in situations where the alloy is out of tolerance when measured against its primary source counterpart.

The invention is directed to the interventionless activation of wellbore devices using dissolving and/or degrading and/or expanding structural materials. Engineered response materials, such as those that dissolve and/or degrade or expand upon exposure to specific environment, can be used to centralize a device in a wellbore.

A high fatigue strength aluminum alloy comprises in weight percent copper 3.0-3.5%, iron 0-1.3%, magnesium 0.24-0.35%, manganese 0-0.8%, silicon 6.5-12.0%, strontium 0-0.025%, titanium 0.05-0.2%, vanadium 0.20-0.35%, zinc 0-3.0%, zirconium 0.2-0.4%, a maximum of 0.5% other elements and balance aluminum plus impurities. The alloy defines a microstructure having an aluminum matrix with the Zr and the V in solid solution after solidification. The matrix has solid solution Zr of at least 0.16% after heat treatment and solid solution V of at least 0.20% after heat treatment, and both Cu and Mg are dissolved into the aluminum matrix during the heat treatment and subsequently precipitated during the heat treatment. A process for heat treating an AlSiCuMgFeZnMnSr-TMs alloy comprises heat treating the alloy to produce a microstructure having a matrix with Zr and V in solid solution after solidification.

A method for producing an engine component, more particularly a piston for an internal combustion engine, in which an aluminum alloy is cast using the gravity die casting method is provided. The aluminum alloy comprises: 9 to 10.5% by weight silicon, >2.0 to <3.5% by weight nickel, >3.7 to 5.2% by weight copper, <1% by weight cobalt, 0.5 to 1.5% by weight magnesium, 0.1 to 0.7% by weight iron, 0.1 to 0.4% by weight manganese, >0.1 to <0.2% by weight zirconium, >0.1 to <0.2% by weight vanadium, 0.05 to <0.2% by weight titanium, 0.004 to 0.008% by weight phosphorus, with aluminum and unavoidable impurities constituting the rest. An engine component, in particular a piston, wherein the engine component consists, at least partially, of the aluminum alloy, and the use of an aluminum alloy to produce the engine component, is also provided.

A method for manufacturing a quasicrystal and alumina mixture particles reinforced magnesium matrix composite, includes manufacturing a quasicrystal and alumina mixture particles reinforcement phase, including preparing raw materials for the quasicrystal and alumina mixture particles reinforcement phase including a pure magnesium ingot, a pure zinc ingot, a magnesium-yttrium alloy in which the content of yttrium is 25% by weight, and nanometer alumina particles, the elements having the following proportion by weight 40 parts of magnesium, 50-60 parts of zinc, 5-10 parts of yttrium and 8-20 parts of nanometer alumina particles of which the diameter is 20-30 nm, pretreating the metal raw materials, cutting the pure magnesium ingot, the pure zinc ingot and the magnesium-yttrium alloy into blocks, removing oxides attached on the surface of each metal block, placing the blocks into a resistance furnace to preheat at 180 C. to 200 C., and filtering out the absolute ethyl alcohol after standing, and drying.

A clad aluminum alloy material exhibiting favorable corrosion resistance and brazeability in an alkaline environment is shown by a clad aluminum alloy material with excellent brazeability and corrosion resistance in which one surface of an aluminum alloy core material is clad with a sacrificial anode material and the other surface is clad with brazing filler material. The core material includes an aluminum alloy of Si: 0.3-1.5%, Fe: 0.1-1.5%, Cu: 0.2-1.0%, Mn: 1.0-2.0%, and Si content+Fe content 0.8%, wherein the 1-20 m equivalent circle diameter AlMnSiFe-based intermetallic compound density is 3.010.sup.5 to 1.010.sup.6 pieces/cm.sup.2, and the 0.1 m to less than 1 m equivalent circle diameter AlMnSiFe-based intermetallic compound density is at least 1.010.sup.7 pieces/cm.sup.2. The sacrificial anode material includes an aluminum alloy containing Si: 0.1-0.6%, Zn: 1.0-5.0%, and Ni: 0.1-2.0%.

A stock shape for a downhole tool component includes a magnesium alloy including a phase containing 70 to 95 wt. % of magnesium in which 0 wt. % or more and less than 0.3 wt. % of a rare earth metal, a metal material other than the magnesium and the rare earth metal, and 0.1 to 20 wt. % of a degradation accelerator are distributed, and the stock shape has an average particle size of the metal material of 1 to 300 m, tensile strength of 200 to 500 MPa, and a degradation rate in a 2% potassium chloride aqueous solution at 93 C. of not less than 20 mg/cm.sup.2 and not greater than 20000 mg/cm.sup.2 per day. Accordingly, a downhole tool having high strength and being readily degradable is established.

An apparatus and methods for forming a toroidal plasma chamber includes metallic material, material forming process, heat treatment, anodization and a feature to form an ideal gas flow pattern in the plasma chamber. The gas passing through the plasma chamber that functions as a secondary wiring in a transformer will be dissociated when coupled with the current induced through a magnetic core by a primary wiring that is a semiconductor switching power source.

The invention discloses the internal structures and processes to synthesize the structure of self-healing materials, especially metallic materials, metal matrix micro and nanocomposites. Self-healing is imparted by incorporation of macro, micro or nanosize hollow reinforcements including nanotubes, filled with low melting healing material or incorporation of healing material in pockets within the metallic matrix; the healing material melts and fills the crack. In another concept, macro, micro and nanosize solid reinforcements including ceramic and metallic particles, and shape memory alloys are incorporated into alloy matrices, specially nanostructured alloy matrices, to impart self healing by applying compressive stresses on the crack or diffusing material into voids to fill them. The processes to synthesize these self-healing and nanocomposite structures, including pressure or pressureless infiltration, stir mixing and squeeze casting in addition to solid and vapour phase consolidation processes are part of this invention.

A steering-wheel core and a method for casting the same capable of eliminating the need to perform finishing processing after casting and decreasing a manufacturing cost even when the steering-wheel core is cast using a molten metal are provided. The method for casting a steering-wheel core (100) according to the present invention includes: providing a protruding portion (92) in a surface (91) of an inner surface of a casting die (90), with the surface defining a nut seat surface; and causing a molten metal to hit on the protruding portion (92) when the molten metal is flown into the casting die (90) such that a flowing direction of the molten metal flowing toward the surface (91 that defines the nut seat surface is changed.