LARGE-SCALE MANUFACTURING OF RAPIDLY SOLIDIFIED ALUMINUM-ALLOYS

A manufacturing process for rapidly solidified (RS) aluminum alloys, intended for aerospace structural applications, has been developed. Planar flow casting/ribbon comminution, powder degassing and compaction processes have been scaled up to produce RS aluminum alloy billets in large quantities. The billets have been converted to mill product forms utilizing extrusion, forging and rolling techniques. The alloys have superior mechanical properties such as a combination of good room temperature ductility and fracture toughness coupled with high modulii, and corrosion resistance. Recent work has shown that such properties can be retained in a variety of large product forms obtained from RS alloy billets. A wide range of aerospace applications, including airframe structures, gas turbine engines and missiles, have been demonstrated for Al-Fe-V-Si alloys. The RS Al-Li alloys are ideally suitable for forging applications in airframe structures.