Process Development

The aim of this project was to develop a process for recycling aerospace aluminum scrap directly into a high strength castable secondary aluminum alloy. Over the course of eighteen months, ARI researchers in partnership with ECK Industries Inc. developed tools to simulate solidification in scrap aerospace aluminum to identify processing routes and to reduce hot tearing susceptibility of aluminum alloys during remelting. The validity of the developed approach and its readiness for transition to commercial practice was demonstrated by casting defect-free cylinder heads directly from aerospace scrap with mechanical properties satisfying industry performance targets.

The objective of this project was to reduce surface damage and enhance rolling contact fatigue resistance of railway rails through a selective laser shock peening treatment of railheads. Field tests performed in collaboration with The Transportation Technology Center Inc. indicated enhanced wear resistance and more uniform wear rates of laser-treated rails compared to standard rails. The laser-treated rails had higher running surface hardness with less flattening at the rail gauge corners and did not exhibit any signs of surface fatigue damage.

With our partners on campus (Profs. D. Ruzic, M. Sankaran), we have developed a chemical waste-free process to pretreat metallic surfaces for corrosion protection and paint adhesion promotion using atmospheric plasma processing (APP). The APP has been developed to clean the metallic surfaces, deposit a zirconia coating for corrosion protection and a silica layer for adhesion promotion. The use of APP reduces the environmental impact of corrosion protection pretreatments since it replaces hazardous chemicals (such as hexavalent chromium) with a chemical waste-free process.

Learn about our available Materials and Manufacturing facilities here.