| EPSRC Reference: |
GR/M12650/01 |
| Title: |
IMPROVED PROCESSING OF WROUGHT ALUMINIUM ALLOYS BY MODELLING AND CONTROL OF GRAIN REFINEMENT |
| Principal Investigator: |
Greer, Professor AL |
| Other Investigators: |
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| Researcher Co-Investigators: |
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| Project Partners: |
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| Department: |
Materials Science & Metallurgy |
| Organisation: |
University of Cambridge |
| Scheme: |
Standard Research (Pre-FEC) |
| Starts: |
18 January 1999 |
Ends: |
17 January 2002 |
Value (£): |
151,907
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| No relevance to Underpinning Sectors |
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Summary on Grant Application Form |
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The performance and processability of wrought Al alloys depends on control of the grain structures in DC-cast billets, achieved by addition of grain refiners. Existing industrial practice offers substantial scope for improvement of grain-refining - greater efficiency so that less refiner can be used, efficiency less dependent on cooling rate, greater resistance to 'poisoning' of refiners by solutes, more efficient refining of recycled alloys, less agglomeration of refiner. Fundamental studies of Al-Ti-B refiners have given greater understanding of the nucleation mechanism, and led to the development of improved refiner, but industrial interest now focuses on the potential for better performance offered by Al-Ti-C refiners. This project aims to characterise the performance of these new refiners, to understand the nucleation mechanism and to develop quantitative modelling of the refiner action capable of application to a range of alloys and processing conditions. The academic partners will work with a producer of refiners (LSM) and a user (Alcan) to develop improved refiners and refining practice. The work will include microscopical studies of nucleation (in glassy matrices), measurement of nucleation in melts (by sedimentation and calorimetry), modelling of refiner action
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Key Findings |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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Potential use in non-academic contexts |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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Impacts |
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| Description |
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk |
| Summary |
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| Date Materialised |
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Sectors submitted by the Researcher |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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| Project URL: |
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| Further Information: |
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| Organisation Website: |
http://www.cam.ac.uk |