Tehran, Iran, March 21st, 2015

The process was designed in a way that it enabled the researchers to produce nanocomposite and nanostructured metal at the same time. Results of the research will be used in aerospace industries, automobile manufacturing and all industries related to aluminum and light metals.

Novel technologies take step towards the production of lighter but stronger alloys to save energy. There are three important limitations in the majority of severe plastic deformation (SPD) processes. In these processes, expensive forming devices are required with high load capacity. Low amount of production and limitations in the size of the product are among the other problems of these processes. The impossibility of production of composite in plastic deformation methods is among the other limitations in these processes.

Due to the abovementioned limitations and the need for the creation of new methods, the researchers proposed a new severe plastic deformation method under the title annular pressure buildup (APB). In this research, commercial 1050 pure aluminum was used as the base alloy while silicon carbide nanoparticles were used as the strengthening agent.

Results of the research showed that aluminum and its alloys produced through APB process without the creation of any crack or layers are final consistent products with great quality.

According to the researchers, the simultaneous combination of ultrafine grained structure with average particle size of 280 nm and silicon carbide nanoparticles with aver particle size of 55 nm as strengthening agents results in the production of aluminum-based nanocomposite with a strength of 284 MPa. This value is the highest reported value for the strength of commercial pure aluminum across the world.