Open Competition 4 - Chemistry and Materials

Rapid Quenching of Aluminum Alloy Castings Through an In-Line Fluidized Bed System

Sponsor: Technomics, LLC

• Project Performance Period: 7/1/2002 - 6/30/2005
• Total project (est.): $2,744,505.00
• Requested ATP funds: $2,000,000.00

Aluminum alloy components are critical elements of automobiles, aircraft, and other vehicles. After forming, components such as wheels and wing sections are heat treated to achieve strength and hardness, and then rapidly cooled (quenched). Presently, heating and quenching require that components be taken off the production line for batch processing cycles lasting as long as 30 hours. Current quenching methods cause problems such as residual stress and distortion, which weaken components and result in excess scrap and rework. In a two-year project aimed at accelerating and improving this process, Technomics, LLC plans to build and test model and prototype fluidized bed systems for automated in-line quenching of individual components. This work will enable a prototype heat-treatment system that can achieve component tensile and yield strength, hardness standards, and other attributes in less than one hour. The system uses a high-speed, automated line to bring components directly from casting into a heat treatment unit. In addition to the shift from batch processing to continuous, in-line quenching of individual components, the key innovations in the ATP project will be the use of fluidized dry media, indirect heating and cooling of the dry media, and automated transfer of components into and through the quenching bed. A major research challenge will be the successful scale-up of a lab-bench technology to a viable industrial process. In addition, industry long has adhered to "time at temperature" standards to assure the quality of heat-treated alloys. To overcome industry concerns about liability, Technomics must demonstrate unequivocally that the new process produces final component properties equal to, or better than, conventional methods and at substantially lower cost. The company will cast and process a uniform set of test plates on a scale model testbed and compare the results to those from a control group quenched in a conventional manner. The same sets of tests and analyses then will be performed on three types of automobile components on a full-scale system. Personnel at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (Worcester, Mass.) will collect and analyze the data and provide consulting services, and a potential user of the technology, AMCAST Industrial Corporation (Dayton, Ohio), will provide plates and parts for testing and host the full-scale test system. The project might not be pursued at all without the ATP funding, which is needed because the research is at too early a stage to attract private investors. If successfully developed and deployed, the new technology will reduce total heat process times to less than two hours, reduce emissions and waste disposal costs, reduce unit costs by 25 percent, and substantially improve component quality. The new technology also could have other materials processing applications, such as steel wire production and copper annealing.

For project information:

Charles H. Bergman, (763) 383-4720
cbergman@rapidheattreat.com

ATP Project Manager

Jean-Louis Staudenmann, (301) 975-4866
jstaudenmann@nist.gov