PRLog （Press Release） – Sep 14, 2010 – A researcher at NC State University's Centennial Campus and colleagues have figured out a way to make an aluminum alloy, or a mixture of aluminum and other elements, just as strong as steel.
That’s important, says Dr. Yuntian Zhu, professor of materials science and engineering and the NC State researcher involved in the project, because the search for ever lighter – yet stronger – materials is crucial to devising everything from more fuel-efficient cars to safer airplanes.
In a paper published in the journal Nature Communications, Zhu and his colleagues describe the new nanoscale architecture within aluminum alloys that have unprecedented strength but also reasonable plasticity to stretch and not break under stress. Perhaps even more importantly, the technique of creating these nanostructures can be used on many different types of metals.
Zhu says the aluminum alloys have unique structural elements that, when combined to form a hierarchical structure at several nanoscale levels, make them super-strong and ductile.
The aluminum alloys have small building blocks, called “grains,” that are thousands of times smaller than the width of a human hair. Each grain is a tiny crystal less than 100 nanometers in size. Bigger is not better in materials, Zhu says, as smaller grains result in stronger materials.
Zhu also says the aluminum alloys have a number of different types of crystal “defects.” Nanocrystals with defects are stronger than perfect crystals. Now, Zhu plans on working on strengthening magnesium, a metal that is even lighter than aluminum. He’s collaborating with the Department of Defense on a project to make magnesium alloys strong enough to be used as body armor for soldiers.
Zhu’s colleagues on the Nature Communications paper are affiliated with the University of Sydney in Australia; the University of California, Davis; and Ufa State Aviation Technical University in Russia.
The Department of Materials Science and Engineering is part of NC State’s College of Engineering.
About Centennial Campus
Centennial Campus is an internationally recognized 1,314-acre research park and technology campus owned and operated by NC State. Home to more than 60 corporate, government and non-profit partners, such as Red Hat, ABB, and the USDA, collaborative research projects vary from nanofibers and secure open systems technology to serious gaming and biomedical engineering. Four university college programs also have a significant presence on campus – College of Engineering, College of Veterinary Medicine, College of Textiles and the College of Education.
About NC State
NC State is one of the top research universities in the country, with expenditures in research approaching more than $325 million annually. The university ranks third among all public universities （without medical schools） in industry-sponsored research expenditures.
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