ALuminium Sheet WIth high Secondary Content

Important results from the project

The project aimed to create a malleable aluminum sheet with a high secondary material content, with the same level of performance as primary-based aluminum sheet. The project investigated 1) Sustainable delivery streams for secondary metal, to produce semi-finished products in sheet form 2) An alloy specification was developed with respect to phase content and castability 3) Four alloys were cast and showed good castability and formability after rolling and recrystallization

Expected long term effects

The fulfilment of critical objectives can be summarized as 1) Delivery currents were identified 2) An alloy specification was prepared and this alloy showed good castability in the 4 variants created within the specification 3) A heat treatment schedule enabled sheet with 1, 0.5 and 0.2 mm thickness to be manufactured 4) The recrystallization treatment proved troublesome from trace elements 5) The formability suffered somewhat due to the problems with the recrystallization on Erichsen test gave 7 mm where 10 mm would have been desirable.

Approach and implementation

Scrap streams were studied through a literature study and via the companies´ websites. An alloy specification was developed based on suitable scrap chemistry, and an alloy group and a thermodynamics analysis were made to identify phases formed and the solidification interval for formability and castability. 4 alloys were cast, heat-treated, rolled, heat-treated again and tested for formability (Erichsen test) and tensile testing for anisotropy, Castability and rollability gave satisfactory results. Formability requires additional work.