MIT researchers develop spray aluminum process to improve quality of aluminum alloys

Aluminum is a ubiquitous metal in our era, but surprisingly it is difficult to produce alloys, often resulting in aluminum scrap due to poor mixing. MIT researchers Antoine Allanore and Samuel R. Wagstaff have been studying the aluminum alloy hardening process and have proposed a method of using the nozzle to produce a more uniform copper and manganese distribution in the casting.

Direct cooling of the casted aluminum alloy is a very effective process, which rapidly cools to a semi-continuous manner of the aluminum alloy ingot by pouring the molten metal into the cooling mold. However, according to Allanore and Wagstaff, this method has problems in terms of quality control. Although ingots may look perfect on the outside, copper or manganese do not distribute uniformly in them, and sizes vary from inches to feet, leading to casting. The resulting aluminum alloy may have quality problems.

The problem is usually the lack of alloying elements near the center of the solidified slab or aluminum alloy ingot. In order to gain more control, Allancore and Wagstaff took out molten metal samples at different times of casting and studied the formation and migration of grains. The researchers eventually used a jet to cycle the metal to keep the alloy uniform. This also causes the grains to move and change the microstructure of the hardened metal.

What the researchers did was to use a magnetic pump to change the jet power to control the speed, power, and speed of the entire casting. The great thing about this approach is that their definition is very clear, it's easy to understand how it's expanded and how it's done over time. The function is distributed so that the alloy elements are more uniform throughout the cross section.