Energy flexibility refers to the ability of a building or neighbourhood to activate its on-site flexibility sources (building’s thermal mass, heat storage tanks, batteries, EV charging) while safeguarding user needs and comfort. FLEXor is an optimization tool for flexible energy use, storage and...
Strategic utilisation of materials, particularly their effective integration, is a key factor in product innovation aimed at enhancing performance. However, assembling these materials poses significant challenges, particularly in ensuring that the joining processes do not compromise the individual...
Aluminum alloys are essential materials in cars, airplanes, and buildings because they are strong, lightweight, and resistant to corrosion. One special group, called Al-Mg-Si alloys, becomes stronger through a process known as “age hardening,” where tiny needle-shaped particles—about 10,000 to...
In this work, various aspects of age hardening in 6xxx alloys were analyzed with a strong focus on the effect of the early ”clustered” microstructure on the final peak-strength precipitate microstructure. First, the effect of a typical industrial ramp up to artificial aging (AA) temperature was...
The influence of the aging temperature on intergranular corrosion (IGC) of Al-Mg-Si alloys with minor Cu and Zn additions has been investigated to clarify the correlation between the alloy composition, grain boundary chemistry and corrosion resistance in an acidified NaCl solution. Microstructural...
It is demonstrated that good thermal stability in Al-Mg-Si-Cu aluminum alloys correlates with a high density of fine lath-shaped, Cu-containing, disordered L-precipitates. Alloys optimized for L retained hardness above 90 HV after 3 weeks over-aging at 473 K (200 °C). Further improvement was...
In this study, the effect of Cu addition on the structures of atomic clusters and Guinier-Preston zones in Al-Mg-Si alloys and their connection to age-hardenability were studied by atomic-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy. Cu addition promoted the formation of 1β” zones consisting...
In many industrial Al-Mg-Si alloys, natural aging (NA) has a detrimental effect on the age-hardening response during artificial aging (AA), due to the formation of unfavorable nanometer-sized solute clusters during NA. In this work, we systematically studied the atomic structures of solute clusters...
Abstract Cold bonding between dissimilar metals and alloys offers several benefits, such as the absence of soft heat-affected zones and thick intermetallic layers with properties that differ from those of the base metals. At room temperature, thermally driven diffusion processes are negligible, but...
In this work the effect of interrupted quenching and natural aging prior to artificial aging was analyzed on the early GP-zones and resulting precipitates in a 6082 alloy by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and (scanning) transmission electron microscopy ((S)TEM). DSC was used to “scan” along...
In this study, we investigated the effect of a combination of deformation and aging after solution heat treatment of an Al-1%Cu-0.96%Mg-0.36%Si (mass%) alloy on the precipitation during subsequent artificial aging. The combination of microstructural studies and hardness tests allowed for a detailed...
Recently, the T’ phase, the precursor to the equilibrium phase T-(Al, Zn)49Mg32, has gained interest in the Al – Zn –Mg community. This is partly due to its significant contribution to strength in the novel cross-over alloys. However, the relation between the alloy composition and its occurrence is...
Introduction: Prehospital treatment of accidental hypothermia typically involves using active external rewarming, usually either with chemical or electrical heating pads. Active external rewarming is a recommended treatment method, but carries the risk of burn injury, which can occur if tissue...
Recycling Al alloys promotes greater sustainability, as the energy required to produce recycled alloys is only about 5 % of that needed to produce the same amount of primary alloys. However, the build-up of impurities, such as Zn, during the recycling process can negatively affect the corrosion...