Alloy times: scientists have found a revolutionary method of creating aluminum products

Scientists have created the world's first installation combining casting, rolling and pressing, thanks to which it can produce new products from aluminum melts and its waste faster and cheaper. The method will reduce the cost of manufacturing long products — rods, wire and others. The experts highly appreciated the prospects of using the technology and noted that it would be economically beneficial to enterprises.

Aluminum products

Scientists from the Siberian Federal University (Krasnoyarsk) have created an installation for the manufacture of aluminum alloy products by the ingotless rolling method. This is a metal fabrication process that combines several metalworking stages in a single operation.

According to the developers, this is the world's first unit in which casting, rolling and pressing are carried out simultaneously. Due to this, the installation allows you to obtain blanks in the form of rods, including from recycled aluminum alloy waste, such as scraps and shavings, which ultimately leads to a reduction in the cost of finished products.

Installation of non-slip rolling-pressing

Photo: Sergey Sidelnikov

The installation has a mixing furnace where the aluminum alloy is melted, as well as a deforming unit with which the melt is poured into water-cooled rolls. Here, the melt crystallizes into a square billet, from which bars are then formed. With this technology, aluminum alloys of various compositions can be processed and molded into products of a given shape and size with high productivity.

"We have applied for two patents, as the method and device for ingotless rolling and pressing of aluminum alloy rods have been developed for the first time," Sergey Sidelnikov, Honored Inventor of the Russian Federation, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor of the Department of Metalworking by Pressure at the Institute of Non—Ferrous Metals of Siberian Federal University, told Izvestia.

Easy on the head: EU plans to ban imports of Russian aluminum

Another package of sanctions is being prepared

How aluminum is made stronger

As the developers explained to Izvestia, if fasteners such as rivets, nuts and screws are made of pure aluminum, cracks appear in them during operation and the products are destroyed. To eliminate this disadvantage, additional elements are added to aluminum and thus alloys are obtained. For greater resistance to deformation, ingots are improved by introducing modifier rods made of aluminum alloy with titanium and boron during casting.

Almost all domestic factories produce aluminum alloy products from ingots modified with such rods, the scientists said. However, they are bought abroad at a fairly high price, since their production in our country has not yet been established. Therefore, the task of replacing imported products is very urgent.

Project manager Sergey Sidelnikov next to the installation

Photo: Sergey Sidelnikov

In the process, the scientists used computer modeling to determine the temperature, velocity, and deformation parameters of the process and the power of the plant's drive motor. Then, using them, a unit was constructed and experimental studies were carried out on it to obtain experimental batches of modifier rods, including from secondary production waste (aluminum alloy with magnesium and silicon). The authors took pictures of the metal structure, and also tested the bars for strength using a bursting machine, and it turned out to be comparable to the strength of bars obtained by traditional rolling and pressing methods.

"We are going to conduct experiments on the modification of industrial ingots made of aluminum alloy with magnesium and silicon using the modifier rods we have obtained, made from the trimmings of pressed profiles, and test the scientific hypothesis about the possibility of modifying ingots using such rods," said Sergey Sedelnikov.

Now profitable: aluminum exports to South Korea increased

Experts see this as a positive factor

The method of roll-free rolling

The ingotless rolling-pressing (BPP) method makes it possible to achieve energy savings in the production of deformed semi-finished products by eliminating annealing and technological heating operations during the deformation of ingots obtained using traditional technologies, senior researcher at the NUST MISIS Pressure Metalworking Department Torgom Hakobyan told Izvestia.

— The possibility of involving secondary raw materials when using this technology may also make it possible to increase the economic efficiency of the method. The production of ligature rods for modifying the structure of industrial alloys can find wide application in the Russian aluminum industry if the target product characteristics and performance of the BPP technology are achieved," said the specialist.

Photo: Sergey Sidelnikov

The developed technology is suitable for the production of various products from rods, Alexander Pesin, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor, Deputy head of the laboratory "Mechanics of Gradient Nanomaterials named after A.P. Zhilyaev" of Magnitogorsk State Technical University named after G.I. Nosov, told Izvestia.

— This technology allows you to get economic benefits, it allows you to dramatically speed up casting and rolling, reducing the time for these processes. It also makes it possible to use production waste in the form of rods and shavings, which significantly reduces costs," the expert noted.

The results of the study, supported by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation (RSF), are published in the Metallurg journal.