Application Of Aluminum Research Articles

Metal Ion Improved Properties of Burning Candle

Irvingia gabonensis seed oil was extracted, characterized, and used in the production of metallic soaps of calcium, magnesium, and aluminium for application as hardeners for candle wax. The percentage free fatty acid (as oleic acid) is 2.76, the acid value is 5.50, unsaponifiable matter is 0.12 and the viscosity is 205.70×102 Kgm-1S-1. The seed oil contains eight fatty acids; the most abundant being myristic acid with 54.39% followed by lauric acid with 36.83%. The percentage saturated fatty acids (SFA), monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) are 93.19%, 6.27% and 0.54%, respectively. The free fatty acid content of the soaps is in the order aluminium soap > magnesium soap > calcium soap. The metallic content of the soaps revealed that aluminium soap has the highest metallic content of 8.10% while that of calcium and magnesium soaps have 0.03% and 0.02% metallic contents, respectively. The melting points of the soaps prepared also followed a similar pattern. The aluminium soap exhibited mild acidic nature while calcium and magnesium soaps were basic. Although the lumens of the metallic soap candles were similar to that of local commercial candles which served as control, the candles had higher melting points and reduced burning rate. It is concluded from these that the metallic soaps make the candles harder and, longer lasting during burning and of greater value to the common user. Production of candles with metallic soaps as additives is highly advocated.

Effect of Bed Temperature on the Laser Energy Required to Sinter Copper Nanoparticles

Copper nanoparticles (NPs), due to their high electrical conductivity, low cost, and easy availability, provide an excellent alternative to other metal NPs such as gold, silver, and aluminum in applications ranging from direct printing of conductive patterns on metal and flexible substrates for printed electronics applications to making three-dimensional freeform structures for interconnect fabrication for chip-packaging applications. Lack of research on identification of optimum sintering parameters such as fluence/irradiance requirements for sintering of Cu NPs serves as the primary motivation for this study. This article focuses on the identification of a good sintering irradiance window for Cu NPs on an aluminum substrate using a continuous wave (CW) laser. The study also includes the comparison of CW laser sintering irradiance windows obtained with substrates at different initial temperatures. The irradiance requirements for sintering of Cu NPs with the substrate at 150–200°C were found to be 5–17 times smaller than the irradiance requirements for sintering with the substrate at room temperature. These findings were also compared against the results obtained with a nanosecond (ns) laser and a femtosecond (fs) laser.

Precompressed and Stranded Aluminum Motor Windings for Traction Motors

There are benefits if copper windings are replaced with aluminum in applications that are cost- and mass-sensitive, such as automotive traction; these include the low cost of aluminum, low mass of aluminum, and the ease of motor recycling at the end of life. However, the relatively low electrical conductivity of aluminum compared to copper needs to be overcome. Precompressed motor coils have been shown to produce very high fill factors ( $ > 75\%$ ), reducing dc-winding losses, therefore enabling the use of aluminum conductors. However, the single-stranded conductors used can be prone to high ac losses due to skin and proximity effects. Therefore, a method of manufacture of precompressed coils made from stranded/Litz wire is needed, allowing ac losses to be reduced to low levels. This paper describes the development and test of stranded, precompressed aluminum coils, which have been developed for use in an automotive traction application.

Downstream Processing of Some Al-Fe-Mn-Si and Al-Fe-Si TRC Alloys and Its Influence on Sheet/Foil Properties

This paper describes the general trends correlating mechanical and corrosion properties with chemical composition of some Al-Fe-Si and Al-Fe-Mn-Si alloys for foils. These Al-rich eutectic alloys based on Al-Fe-Si and Al-Fe-Mn, when roll cast and appropriately processed to give fine and regular dispersion of intemetallic particles, can provide good combinations of strength and ductility. These characteristics have been responsible for the alloy success in replacing commercially pure (CP) aluminum for applications in thin sheet and foil gauges. The objective was to obtain an opinion about the possible role of alloying elements in corrosion behavior and mechanical properties of these commercial materials produced by cold rolling of twin roll cast strips.

PVD coatings on aluminium substrates

It is well known that aluminium is today the most widely used metallic material besides steel. The mechanical characteristics of aluminium offer an increasing application field, especially where lightweight constructions are required. The demands for improved characteristics such as higher strength and greater durability are achieved by the development of new aluminium alloys. Continuous efforts are made in research into new possibilities for making use of the advantages of aluminium in applications that were reserved up to now for harder and more wear-resistant materials. Because of their environmental benefits modern PVD processes represent a better alternative to a number of conventional coating processes to deposit wear-resistant films on aluminium surfaces. The aim of this paper is to describe the possibilities of TiN coating on an aluminium alloy, AlMgSi1, by application of the arc-PVD process without damage to the heat-sensitive substrate material. Different machining and cleaning processes were used for the preparation of the aluminium substrates. The relationship between substrate pretreatment and coating characteristics is demonstrated. The influence of different process parameters such as etching, bias voltage and coating time as well as the arrangement of the substrates in the vacuum chamber were investigated. Multilayer (Ti and TiN) and graded coatings were deposited on the aluminium alloy to achieve the best results in deposition rate, microhardness and critical scratch load. To characterize the abrasive wear behaviour of the coated aluminium substrates a special sandblasting test was used. These results are also described in this paper. Finally a suitable process technology is provided for the application of thin protective films on aluminium in order to increase wear resistance.