Reducing the environmental impact of passenger vehicles by the design of lightweight alloy components. There are approximately a billion passenger vehicles in the world and the number is growing each year. The reduction in vehicle weight is therefore critical as it is one of the major contributors to both fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions. A major challenge for the automotive industry is to address this problem by replacing high density materials with lighter weight materials with co ....Reducing the environmental impact of passenger vehicles by the design of lightweight alloy components. There are approximately a billion passenger vehicles in the world and the number is growing each year. The reduction in vehicle weight is therefore critical as it is one of the major contributors to both fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions. A major challenge for the automotive industry is to address this problem by replacing high density materials with lighter weight materials with comparable properties. The aim is to design new lightweight aluminium alloys with the desired properties to replace existing high density steel fasteners in vehicles. It is expected that the new components aim to reduce the total weight of a standard car by at least 20kg; this would be a significant achievement in the eyes of automotive manufacturers.Read moreRead less
High performance cast magnesium alloys. Reducing the weight of cars, particularly their engines, enables substantial reductions in fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. A new generation of magnesium alloys will be developed by this project for the manufacture of considerably lighter components with improved mechanical performance for powertrain and structural applications.
Design of Cost-effective Compositionally Complex Alloys. This project aims to develop low-cost and corrosion resistant compositionally complex alloys and associated processes to concurrently achieve high strength and high toughness using an innovative design strategy. The project expects to overcome the major limitations of this new type of alloys, enabling their practical applications in industry, creating new knowledge of materials science. Expected outcomes include commercialisation ready ne ....Design of Cost-effective Compositionally Complex Alloys. This project aims to develop low-cost and corrosion resistant compositionally complex alloys and associated processes to concurrently achieve high strength and high toughness using an innovative design strategy. The project expects to overcome the major limitations of this new type of alloys, enabling their practical applications in industry, creating new knowledge of materials science. Expected outcomes include commercialisation ready new alloys, breakthrough fundamental understanding of the mechanisms and long-term institutional collaboration. This should provide significant benefits, such as enhancement of Australia’s capacity of alloy development and manufacturing and strengthening the country’s world leading position in this area.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE160100357
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$345,000.00
Summary
Ultrastable metallic glasses. The aim of this project is to create a new class of amorphous alloy – ultrastable metallic glass – by a relatively simple vapour-deposition route. These materials are expected to exhibit unprecedentedly low energy states and properties of high thermal stability, elastic modulus, strength, and hardness not achievable in metallic glasses produced by conventional routes. These new materials may also provide a platform for addressing the longstanding issues of relaxatio ....Ultrastable metallic glasses. The aim of this project is to create a new class of amorphous alloy – ultrastable metallic glass – by a relatively simple vapour-deposition route. These materials are expected to exhibit unprecedentedly low energy states and properties of high thermal stability, elastic modulus, strength, and hardness not achievable in metallic glasses produced by conventional routes. These new materials may also provide a platform for addressing the longstanding issues of relaxation dynamics in glassy physics. The unique properties of ultrastable metallic glasses are expected to make them useful in a range of applications, including highly wear- and corrosion-resistant coatings on electronics and biomedical devices and components.Read moreRead less
The design of new die-castable bulk metallic glasses exhibiting superior mechanical performance. The most dramatic illustration of non-equilibrium processing of a metal is the formation of an amorphous solid that can possess physical and/or functional properties superior to its equilibrium crystalline counterpart. This project will generate new types of net-shape-processed amorphous alloys with an excellent combination of properties.
A new class of poly-amorphous alloy exhibiting outstanding damage tolerance. The most dramatic illustration of non-equilibrium processing of a metal is the formation of an amorphous solid that can possess physical and/or functional properties superior to its equilibrium crystalline counterpart. This project will generate a new class of highly processable amorphous metal with an unusual combination of mechanical properties.
Ultra-lightweight alloys with unique multi-dimensional property profiles. Lightweight alloys with high specific-strength are an essential prerequisite in modern and future technologies. To be useful, they must also possess ductility and inherent corrosion resistance. The latter two properties, however, are inversely correlated with strength. This project proposes to break this paradox - not only in terms of a paradigm change regarding multi-property alloy design - but as applied to the most ligh ....Ultra-lightweight alloys with unique multi-dimensional property profiles. Lightweight alloys with high specific-strength are an essential prerequisite in modern and future technologies. To be useful, they must also possess ductility and inherent corrosion resistance. The latter two properties, however, are inversely correlated with strength. This project proposes to break this paradox - not only in terms of a paradigm change regarding multi-property alloy design - but as applied to the most lightweight engineering alloy system in existence, Magnesium-Lithium (Mg-Li), for which the impact on specific properties is immense. The aim is to develop ultra-lightweight Mg-Li based alloys with formidable property profiles via alloy design and thermomechanical processing. The expected outcome is a new class of structural corrosion resistant metal.Read moreRead less
Crystallography to deform and anneal metals. This project aims to study how the micromechanisms of plastic deformation affect the annealing behaviour of metals. This project will create a computational platform built on a reconstruction algorithm for three-dimensionally reconstructing experimentally-derived orientation data to generate the complete microstructure of crystalline material. It will reconstruct complex deformation and recrystallising structures in metals, through to the boundaries, ....Crystallography to deform and anneal metals. This project aims to study how the micromechanisms of plastic deformation affect the annealing behaviour of metals. This project will create a computational platform built on a reconstruction algorithm for three-dimensionally reconstructing experimentally-derived orientation data to generate the complete microstructure of crystalline material. It will reconstruct complex deformation and recrystallising structures in metals, through to the boundaries, phases and interfaces present in metals and ceramics. The intended outcome is the explanation of unresolved phenomena associated with thermomechanical processing of metals and alloys, useful for materials science, structural geology and condensed matter physics.Read moreRead less
Unlocking the diverse property profile of ultra-lightweight magnesium alloys. This project aims to develop the theory behind why micro alloying contributes to the formation of surface film properties. The exemplar is a prototype Magnesium-Lithium (Mg-Li) base alloy, with high specific-strength and corrosion resistance. This project will lead to the development of a new processable ultra-lightweight, corrosion resistant Mg-Li alloy family that is stronger than the prototype alloy, and with, at le ....Unlocking the diverse property profile of ultra-lightweight magnesium alloys. This project aims to develop the theory behind why micro alloying contributes to the formation of surface film properties. The exemplar is a prototype Magnesium-Lithium (Mg-Li) base alloy, with high specific-strength and corrosion resistance. This project will lead to the development of a new processable ultra-lightweight, corrosion resistant Mg-Li alloy family that is stronger than the prototype alloy, and with, at least, comparable ductility and corrosion resistance. Not only will the outcomes of the work be a fundamental advance to the fields of metallurgy and corrosion science, they will lead to the identification of an optimised compositional window for creating our second generation Mg-Li alloy family capable of being manufactured into ultra-lightweight, corrosion resistant metal products.Read moreRead less
Lower-cost processing of formable magnesium alloys. This project aims to develop higher speed extrusion and rolling of magnesium alloys through the enhanced control of alloying elements and processing schedules. Expected outcomes of this project include the development of novel alloys and processing technologies that can produce lighter, better performing magnesium products with lower processing costs. This project will deliver magnesium products that can improve fuel efficiency, resulting in lo ....Lower-cost processing of formable magnesium alloys. This project aims to develop higher speed extrusion and rolling of magnesium alloys through the enhanced control of alloying elements and processing schedules. Expected outcomes of this project include the development of novel alloys and processing technologies that can produce lighter, better performing magnesium products with lower processing costs. This project will deliver magnesium products that can improve fuel efficiency, resulting in lower emissions and less environmental pollution, along with lightweight portable consumer goods.Read moreRead less