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Method for making high strength aluminum alloy sheet and products made by same

a technology of aluminum alloy and high strength, applied in the field of making high strength aluminum alloy sheets and products made by same, can solve the problems of unique processing constraints of continuous casting, fractures, and scrapping of formed parts, and achieve the effects of high strength, low cost and sufficient formability

Inactive Publication Date: 2009-06-25
COMMONWEALTH INDS
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0020]It is an object of the invention to provide an improved, low cost method utilizing continuous casting, followed by rolling, to produce a high strength sheet product with sufficient formability.
[0021]It is another object of the invention to provide a method including continuously casting a slab from a melt derived from aluminum scrap and rolling the slab into a high strength sheet product with sufficient formability.
[0045]The present invention avoids solution heat treating. The method controls the reduction and the amount of strain hardening of the aluminum sheet through each mill stand to achieve the desired hot band temper.
[0088]To use an alloy of the above composition derived from aluminum scrap in the process of the invention to form truck trailer panels having the requisite strength and formability properties requires careful control and selection of the elements in the alloy and the processing steps. The present process achieves the difficult task of balancing the constituents in the alloy and processing steps to form a sheet product having desirable strength properties while avoiding undesirable properties which lead to fracture or cracking, for example, during the manufacturing process or during service.

Problems solved by technology

However, continuous casting has unique processing constraints.
If the alloy and processing steps are not controlled, then in the forming steps, fracture can occur and the formed parts have to be scrapped.
However, the ability to do this is limited by the combination of strength and formability of the sheets, which are manufactured using aluminum scraps and continuous cast technology, from which these products are made.

Method used

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  • Method for making high strength aluminum alloy sheet and products made by same
  • Method for making high strength aluminum alloy sheet and products made by same
  • Method for making high strength aluminum alloy sheet and products made by same

Examples

Experimental program
Comparison scheme
Effect test

example 1

[0223]One example is for making truck trailer siding. An aluminum alloy with chemistry in the weight percentage of 0.229% Si, 0.467% Fe, 0.055% Cu, 0.626% Mn, 1.583% Mg, 0.040% Zn and 0.014% Cr was cast using a twin belt caster. The cast slab of 0.875 inches was directly fed into a three stand hot rolling mill with an entry temperature of 1,000 F. The material was hot rolled to 0.110 inches with a total plastic reduction of 87%. The total YTS increase from slab condition to the exit of the hot mill, independent of the number of the rolling stands, was about 222%. The 0.110 inches hot band was further cold rolled to 0.040 inches and annealed to an H291 temper with a yield strength of 39.5 ksi, an ultimate strength of 43.2 ksi and an elongation of 4.7%.

example 2

[0224]As a comparison to Example 1, currently used AA3004 alloy having the following composition 0.30% Si, 0.59% Fe, 0.16% Cu, 1.02% Mn, 0.91% Mg, 0.08% Zn, 0.02% Ti, 0.03% Cr, balance Al and inevitable impurities was tested. The AA3004 alloy was made into a 0.875 inch slab using a belt caster and hot rolled to 0.10 inch then cold rolled to 0.04 inch thickness and then annealed to H291 temper. The H291 temper material had a yield strength of 36.4 ksi and an ultimate strength of 40.3 ksi with an elongation of 4.0%. Yield strength of the invented alloy is 3.1 ksi (or 8.5%) higher than that of the currently used AA3004 alloy for the truck trailer siding application.

example 3

[0225]Another example is for making electrical conduits. An aluminum alloy with chemistry in the weight percentage of 0.233% Si, 0.567% Fe, 0.119% Cu, 0.614% Mn, 1.585% Mg, 0.064% Zn and 0.030% Cr was cast using a twin belt caster. The cast slab was directly fed into a three stand hot rolling mill and rolled from 0.875 inches to 0.055 inches with a total plastic deformation of 93.7%. The total YTS increase from slab condition to the exit of the hot mill, independent of the number of the rolling stands, was about 200%.

[0226]The 0.055 inches hot band was further cold rolled to 0.016 inches and then annealed to have a yield strength of 36.6 ksi, an ultimate strength of 41.3 ksi and an elongation of 9.5%. The material was formed into metal clad cable (similar to that of FIGS. 12 and 13) without forming failure. The formed metal clad cable was tested and pass the UL test standard UL 1569-Metal-Clad Cables (current revision through and including May 25, 2005).

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Abstract

Disclosed is a method for producing a non-heat-treatable high strength aluminum sheet from aluminum scraps using a continuous caster. The method includes providing a molten aluminum non-heat-treatable alloy including Si about 0.7% max., Fe about 0.8% max., Cu about 0.3% max., Mn about 0.5-1.2%, Mg about 1.3-2.8%, Zn about 0.20% max., Cr about 0.2% max., Zr about 0.30% max., Sr about 0.30 max., the remainder aluminum, incidental elements and impurities; and continuously casting the molten aluminum alloy into a slab and rolling the slab into a sheet product with high strength and reasonable formability. Typically, the sheet product is used for the products, such as truck trailer siding panel or electrical conduits for the building industry.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]The present invention provides a method to use continuous casting to make flat rolled aluminum sheet for vehicular components, for example, truck trailer siding, or for other uses, such as building and electrical products, where the combination of high strength and formability are required. The invention also simplifies processing steps for making high strength sheets. Further, the invention provides a non-heat-treatable aluminum alloy utilizing most types of non-heat-treatable and some types of heat-treatable wrought aluminum scraps as charge materials.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]As will be appreciated herein below, except as otherwise indicated, alloy designations and temper designations refer to the Aluminum Association designations in Aluminum Standards and Data and the Registration Records, as published by the Aluminum Association in 2007.[0003]For any description of alloy compositions or preferred alloy compositions, all references to percentag...

Claims

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Application Information

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IPC IPC(8): C22F1/047
CPCC22C21/06C22F1/047C22C21/08
Inventor PLATEK, PAULKELLER, CHRISTOPHERDING, SHIXITHOMPSON, DAVID O.LI, ZHONG
Owner COMMONWEALTH INDS
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