The present disclosure relates to new materials comprising Al, Co, Cr, and Ni. The new materials may realize a single phase field of a face-centered cubic (fcc) solid solution structure immediately below the solidus temperature of the material. The new materials may include at least one precipitate phase and have a solvus temperature of at least 1000° C. The new materials may include 2.2-8.6 wt. % Al, 4.9-65.0 wt. % Co, 4.3-42.0 wt. % Cr, and 4.8-88.6 wt. % Ni. In one embodiment, the precipitate is selected from the group consisting of the L1.sub.2 phase, the B2 phase, the sigma phase, the bcc phase, and combinations thereof. The new alloys may realize improved high temperature properties.

The present disclosure relates to new materials comprising Al, Co, Fe, and Ni. The new materials may realize a single phase field of a face-centered cubic (fcc) solid solution structure immediately below the solidus temperature of the material. The new materials may include at least one precipitate phase and have a solvus temperature of at least 1000° C. The new materials may include 4.4-11.4 wt. % Al, 4.9-42.2 wt. % Co, 4.6-28.9 wt. % Fe, and 44.1-86.1 wt. % Ni. In one embodiment, the precipitate is selected from the group consisting of the L1.sub.2 phase, the B2 phase, and combinations thereof. The new alloys may realize improved high temperature properties.

The present disclosure relates to new materials comprising Al, Ti, and Zr. The new materials may realize a single phase field of a hexagonal close-packed (hcp) solid solution structure immediately below the solidus temperature of the material. The new materials may include at least one precipitate phase and have a solvus temperature of at least 1240° C. The new materials may include 29.0-42.4 wt. % Al, 41.2-59.9 wt. % Ti, and 10.3-24.1 wt. % Zr. In one embodiment, the precipitate is selected from the group consisting of the L1.sub.0 phase, the Al.sub.2Zr phase, and combinations thereof. The new alloys may realize improved high temperature properties.

A thermal-assisted method deforms plastically a high-strength material using a high-intensive heat source. The high-strength material may be a cold-rolled sheet aluminum of strength greater than 300 megapascal (MPa) or a cold-rolled sheet steel of strength greater than 1000 MPa. The cold-rolled sheet metal is heated just before bending to a temperature near or above the critical temperature for the material and is followed by rapid quenching after bending.

A method for heat-treating a cast component composed of an aluminum base alloy, in which method the cast component is annealed at a predetermined annealing temperature for a predetermined annealing period in a first heat transfer medium and then transferred into a water bath. Between being annealed and transferred into the water bath, the cast component is transferred into a second heat transfer medium at a predetermined intermediate cooling temperature, where it is held for a predetermined intermediate cooling period.

A copper alloy consisting of two or more of Cr, Ti and Zr, and the balance Cu and impurities, in which the relationship between the total number N and the diameter X satisfies the following formula (1). Ag, P, Mg or the like may be included instead of a part of Cu. This copper alloy is obtained by cooling a bloom, a slab, a billet, or a ingot in at least in a temperature range from the bloom, the slab, the billet, or the ingot temperature just after casting to 450° C., at a cooling rate of 0.5° C./s or more. After the cooling, working in a temperature range of 600° C. or lower and further heat treatment of holding for 30 seconds or more in a temperature range of 150 to 750° C. are desirably performed. The working and the heat treatment are desirably performed a plurality of times.

log N≦0.4742+17.629×exp(−0.1133×X)  (1)

An amorphously solidifying noble metal alloy has the following composition of AaBbCc, wherein: A represents at least one noble metal from a group of platinum and palladium; B represents at least one element from a group of Al, Au, Ag and Cu; and C represents at least one element from a group of Ga and Ge. The mass fraction a lies in a region of 45-60 mass percent. The mass fraction b lies in the region of 39-55 mass percent. The mass fraction c lies in the region of 0-13 mass percent. Where platinum and palladium are both present, the amorphous noble metal alloy does not have aluminum as the sole alloy component from group B. The above mass fractions a, b and c, aside from typical admixtures, impurities and alloy tolerances, add up to 100 mass percent.

The disclosure provides Zr—Ti—Cu—Ni—Al metallic glass-forming alloys and metallic glasses that have a high glass forming ability along with a high thermal stability of the supercooled liquid against crystallization.

When welding with a consumable wire electrode, current contacting occurs when the electrode wire passes by a readily electrically conductive contact element. In order to improve the current contacting and reduce the wear of the contact element in particular, the invention proposes subjecting contact elements to a cold treatment prior to using same. The cold treatment has a cooling phase during which the temperature of the contact element is reduced to a lower target temperature, a subsequent holding phase in which the contact element is substantially held at the target temperature, and a final heating phase, in which the contact element is brought to an upper target temperature. The use of contact elements treated using the method according to the invention leads to a substantial increase of the wear resistance compared to untreated contact elements.

A method and system solution heat treat, at an elevated first temperature, a coil of aluminum alloy sheet to form a heat-treated coil and while at least a portion of the heat-treated coil is being solution heat treated, uncoil a heat-treated portion of the aluminum alloy sheet from the heat-treated coil and continuously quenching the uncoiled heat-treated portion to form a quenched sheet.