EUROPEAN CONGRESS AND EXHIBITION ON ADVANCED MATERIALS AND PROCESSES - EUROMAT 2021

In this ever-changing world the automotive industry, due to the European requirements related with the greenhouse gases emissions, the efficiency in the use of resources or sustainable transportation, has many projects with the aim of finding new materials.
Among the metallic material, aluminium is the third most abundant element in the earth crust and considering the low density and the high mechanical properties the material has, the study of different aluminium alloys is now the object of many studies. The work done studied the metal matrix nanocomposites (MMNC) obtained due to the incorporation of ceramic TiC nano particles into the molten pure aluminium.
The background of the project is the die casting process, which is being applied to the manufacturing of metallic components since the 19th century. The work shows the procedure used to obtain the MMNCs, the micrographs in which the nano particles appears and the mechanical properties of the material.
The TiC nano particles are introduced in the molten aluminium using the well-known stir casting method in semi-solid condition. With the aim of improving the performance of the incorporated particles, the temperature of the aluminium rises to 720oC. A simultaneous improvement, in tensile strength and elongation of the material, is observed after the introduction of the ceramic nano particles with an incorporation of <0.2wt.% of TiC. In case of the resistance the improvement of the result is more than 50%, alike the elongation capacity of the material increases by 40%. The position and the structure of the introduced nano particles after solidification is shown in some micrographs obtained by TEM.
This is only the start of a promising future in which nanotechnology applied to die casting processes is expected to increase the portfolio of applications in different industries such as automotive or aerospace.