Handbook of Aluminum Alloy Production and Materials Manufacturing

731 Pages·1996·18.32 MB·English

by  George E. Totten

Preface
ThissecondvolumeofHandbookofAluminumaddressesthephysicalmetallurgyand
processing technologies of aluminum and its alloys in a thorough and deliberate
manner. Volume 1 covers a wide range of topics including pure aluminum and its
properties, an extensive discussion of the physical metallurgy of aluminum and its
alloys, and processes such as rolling, forging, casting, welding, quenching, super-
plastic forming, and others.
There are 18 chapters in volume 2 and some of the topics discussed include:
(cid:1) Production of aluminum alloys including extractive metallurgy, smelting,
master alloy creation, and recycling
(cid:1) Analytical methods used to characterize aluminum alloys
(cid:1) Work hardening, recovery, recrystallization, and grain growth
(cid:1) Modeling of microstructure evolution
(cid:1) Microstructure-texture-property relationships
(cid:1) Property prediction using quench factor analysis
(cid:1) Mechanical properties and alloy chemistry
(cid:1) Aluminum alloy corrosion
(cid:1) Surface chemistry of adhesion processes
(cid:1) Surface modification including nitriding
(cid:1) Friction stir welding
(cid:1) Aluminum intermetallics and metal matrix composites
(cid:1) Environmental effects and toxicity of aluminum production processes
iii
iv Preface
Theinformationinthesechapters,inadditiontothatinVolume1,providesthe
reader with an extensive and rigorous reference to nearly all aspects of the produc-
tion,physicalmetallurgy,andprocessingtechnologiesencounteredinthealuminum
alloy industry.
We are indebted for the tremendous effort and patience shown by all of our
contributors. We are especially indebted to Alice Totten and Patricia MacKenzie
for their unending patience and assistance throughout the preparation of this text.
We also acknowledge Houghton International for their support, without which this
book would not have been possible.
George E. Totten
D. Scott MacKenzie
Contents
Preface iii
Contributors vii
1. Extractive Metallurgy of Aluminum 1
Fathi Habashi
2. Smelting of Aluminum 47
Michael M. Gasik and Michael I. Gasik
3. Creation of Master Alloys for Aluminum 81
Michael M. Gasik and Vladislav I. Mazur
4. Recycling of Aluminum 115
Jorge Alberto Soares Teno´rio and Denise Crocce Romano Espinosa
5. Analytical Techniques for Aluminum 155
Alexis Deschamps
6. Work Hardening, Recovery, Recrystallization, and Grain Growth 193
Angelo Fernando Padilha and Ronald Lesley Plaut
7. Modeling of Microstructural Evolution During
Processing of Aluminum Alloys 221
Bala Radhakrishnan, Gorti Sarma, and Chris H. J. Davies
v
vi Contents
8. Texture-Property Relationships in Aluminum Alloys:
Simulations and Experiments 277
Dierk Raabe
9. Property Prediction 319
James T. Staley and Robert E. Sanders, Jr.
10. Mechanical Properties 343
D. Scott MacKenzie
11. Corrosion of Aluminum and Its Alloys 421
T. David Burleigh
12. Surface Chemistry of Adhesion to Aluminum 465
Margaret M. Hyland
13. Surface Modification 483
Kiyoshi Funatani, Masayuki Yoshida,
and Yoshiki Tsunekawa
14. Aluminum Nitriding 565
Heinz-Joachim Spies and Bert Reinhold
15. Friction Stir Welding of Aluminum Alloys 579
Anthony P. Reynolds
16. Aluminum Intermetallics 603
Georg Frommeyer and Sven Knippscheer
17. Aluminum-Based Metal Matrix Composites 631
Georg Frommeyer and Sven Knippscheer
18. Environmental and Toxicological Effects 671
Gilbert F. Bourcier
Appendixes
1. Alloy Equivalents 701
2. Aluminum Specifications 704
3. Wrought and Cast Aluminum Chemical Specifications 713
4. Typical Properties of Wrought and Cast Aluminum Alloys 716
Index 719
Contributors
Gilbert F. Bourcier, B.S. Old Dominion Engineering Services Company,
Midlothian, Virginia, U.S.A.
T. David Burleigh, Ph.D. New Mexico Tech, Socorro, New Mexico, U.S.A.
Chris H. J. Davies, Ph.D. Monash University, Victoria, Australia
Alexis Deschamps, M.Eng., Ph.D. Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble,
Domaine Universitaire, Saint Martin d’He`res, France
DeniseCrocceRomanoEspinosa,Ph.D. UniversityofSa˜oPaulo,Sa˜oPaulo,Brazil
Georg Frommeyer, Dr.-Ing. Max-Planck-Institut fu¨r Eisenforschung GmbH,
Du¨sseldorf, Germany
Kiyoshi Funatani, Ph.D. IMST Institute, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan
Michael I. Gasik, D.Sci.Tech. National Metallurgical Academy of Ukraine,
Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine
Michael M. Gasik, D.Sc., D.Tech.Sci. Helsinki University of Technology, Espoo,
Finland
Fathi Habashi, Dr.Tech. Laval University, Quebec City, Canada
vii
viii Contributors
Margaret M. Hyland, Ph.D. University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
Sven Knippscheer, Dipl.-Ing. Max-Planck-Institut fu¨r Eisenforschung GmbH,
Du¨sseldorf, Germany
Vladislav I. Mazur, D.Sci.Tech. National Metallurgical Academy of Ukraine,
Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine
D. Scott MacKenzie, Ph.D. Houghton International Incorporated, Valley Forge,
Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
Angelo Fernando Padilha, Dr.-Ing. University of Sa˜o Paulo, Sa˜o Paulo, Brazil
Ronald Lesley Plaut, Ph.D. University of Sa˜o Paulo, Sa˜o Paulo, Brazil
Dierk Raabe, Dr.-Ing. Max Planck Institut for Iron Research, Du¨sseldorf,
Germany
Bala Radhakrishnan, Ph.D. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge,
Tennessee, U.S.A.
Bert Reinhold, Dipl.-Phys. ALD Vacuum Technologies AG, Hanau, Germany
Anthony P. Reynolds, Ph.D. University of South Carolina, Columbia, South
Carolina, U.S.A.
Robert E. Sanders, Jr., Ph.D. Aluminum Corporation of America, Alcoa Center,
Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
Gorti Sarma, Ph.D. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee,
U.S.A.
Heinz-Joachim Spies, Dr.-Ing.habil. Freiberg University of Mining and Technol-
ogy, Freiberg, Germany
James T. Staley, Ph.D. Consultant, Durham, North Carolina, U.S.A.
Jorge Alberto Soares Teno´rio, Ph.D. University of Sa˜o Paulo, Sa˜o Paulo, Brazil
Yoshiki Tsunekawa, Ph.D. Toyota Technological Institute, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan
Masayuki Yoshida Nihon Parkerizing Company Ltd., Hiratsuka, Kanagawa,
Japan
1
Extractive Metallurgy of Aluminum
FATHI HABASHI
Laval University, Quebec City, Canada
1 HISTORY
Since Humphry Davy announced in 1808 his belief that the plentiful compound
alumina was theearth (oxide)of anundiscovered metal, scientistshad been making
efforts to obtain this new metal. Davy never made any aluminum himself; but in
1825, the Danish scientist Hans Christian Oersted (177771851) published his
successful experiment in producing a tiny sample of the metal in the laboratory by
reducingaluminumchloridewithpotassiumamalgam.Potassiumwasisolatedafew
years earlier by Davy.
Two years later, Friedrich Wo¨hler (180071882) in Germany produced tiny
globulesofaluminumbythesamemethod,andwasabletodemonstratethemetal’s
lightweight and malleability. Henri Sainte7Claire Deville (Fig. 1) in France in 1854
showed that cheaper sodium could also be used, and the first commercial plant
producing small quantities of aluminum was begun in 1855. Since potassium and
sodium were produced electrolytically, the process was expensive.
In 1886, following the development of large-scale equipment for generating
electrical power, Paul He´roult (Fig. 2a) inFrance, and Charles Hall (Fig. 2b) in the
United States, independently developed a process for the direct electrolytic
decomposition of Al O . They discovered that when an electric current is passed
2 3
through molten cryolite containing dissolved Al O at 98071000(cid:1)C, molten alumi-
2 3
numisdepositedatthecathodeandcarbondioxideisliberatedatthecarbonanode.
This discovery, coupled with the process developed by Karl Josef Bayer (Fig. 3)
in 1888 for the production of alumina, resulted in the modern process for the
production of aluminum.
1
2 Habashi
Figure 1 Henri Sainte7Claire Deville (181871881), the first to produce aluminum on
commercial scale by reduction of AlCl with sodium.
3
2 GENERAL REMARKS
Aluminum comprises 8% of the earth’s crust and is, therefore, the most abundant
structural metal. Its production since 1965 has surpassed that of copper and now
comes nexttoiron(Fig. 4). Itsunit price startedveryhigh andtoday iscomparable
to copper (Fig. 5). It is competing with copper in the electric industry and as a
materialofconstruction.Althoughtheelectricalconductivityofaluminumisslightly
lower than that of copper, it is still economical to use in preference to copper in
power cables because of its lighter weight. As a material of construction, aluminum
can be anodized to get a protective oxide film, which can be dyed to give a colorful
appearance. For the production of the metal, the following points should be taken
into consideration:
(cid:2) The electrowinning of aluminum from an aqueous solution is not possible
because of the strongly negative deposition potential of this metal and the
rapid hydrolysis of the aluminum ion.
(cid:2) Oxides in general have high melting points. Therefore, for the electro-
winning of aluminum from its oxide, a suitable low melting point
electrolyte must be found in which the oxide is appreciably soluble.
(cid:2) In the manufacture of aluminum, there are two main stages. The first
embracestheproductionofpureAl O frombauxite,andthesecondisthe
2 3
reduction of this Al O to the metal in a bath of fused cryolite (Fig. 6).
2 3
Extractive Metallurgyof Aluminum 3
Figure 2 (Top) Paul He´roult (186371914) and (bottom) Charles Martin Hall (186371914)
invented simultaneously and independently the electrolytic process for reduction of Al O .
2 3
(cid:2) Intheelectrowinningofaluminumfromoxidemelts,thecarbonanodesare
quantitatively consumed.
(cid:2) The production of alumina from bauxite is the largest pressure leaching
operation in the world.
(cid:2) Similarly, the production of aluminum by the molten salt electrolysis
of alumina in cryolite is the most important industrial application of
molten salt electrowinning and is the largest electrolytic industry in the
world.