High Conductivity Magnesium Alloy

Abstract

A castable, moldable, or extrudable magnesium-based alloy that includes one or more insoluble additives. The insoluble additives can be used to enhance the mechanical properties of the structure, such as ductility and / or tensile strength. The final structure can be enhanced by heat treatment, as well as deformation processing such as extrusion, forging, or rolling, to further improve the strength of the final structure as compared to the non-enhanced structure. The magnesium-based composite has improved thermal and mechanical properties by the modification of grain boundary properties through the addition of insoluble nanoparticles to the magnesium alloys. The magnesium-based composite can have a thermal conductivity that is greater than 180 W / m−K, and / or ductility exceeding 15-20% elongation to failure.

Description

[0001]This invention claims priority on U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62 / 340,074 filed May 23, 2016, which is incorporated herein. The present invention is also a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14 / 627,236 filed Feb. 20, 2015, which in turn claims priority on U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61 / 942,879 filed Feb. 21, 2014, which is incorporated herein by reference.[0002]The present invention relates to composites and methods for manufacture of a high conductivity magnesium composite, particularly to a magnesium-based composite and methods for manufacture of such composite wherein the composite has improved thermal and mechanical properties, more particularly to a magnesium-based composite and method for manufacture of such composite wherein the composite has improved thermal and mechanical properties by the modification of grain boundary thermal resistance through the addition of insoluble nanoparticles that are generally high conductivit...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention is about a magnesium-based composite that has better thermal, physical, and mechanical properties than traditional magnesium alloys. The composite contains insoluble nanoparticles and optional micron-sized particles which can be added in different quantities to achieve the desired properties and reduce corrosion. The addition of insoluble particles can enhance the mechanical properties of the magnesium-based composite. The final casting can also be further strengthened through heat treatment and deformation processing. The composite can also undergo traditional alloy heat treatments without dissolution impact.

Problems solved by technology

While these systems have enjoyed modest success in reducing well completion costs, their consistency and ability to specifically control dissolution rates in specific solutions, as well as other drawbacks such as limited strength and poor reliability, have impacted their widespread adoption.

While the addition of a large volume percent of high thermal conductivity phases, such as SiC and graphite or carbon materials, to certain alloys has been shown to increase thermal conductivity in select alloys, such additions have typically resulted in increased brittleness of the alloy and the inability to cast or otherwise form the alloy.

As such, these types of alloys have been economically unattractive to use.

Attempts to improve mechanical properties of magnesium alloys while also enhancing the thermal performance of such alloys by using smaller particles have been generally unsuccessful.

However, the addition of high surface area materials to the magnesium and other light metals is also known to decrease the thermal conductivity of magnesium and other light metal alloys due to high interfacial resistance.

However, additions of nanoscale high conductivity phases have generally not been successful at enhancing thermal properties, and most often degrade the properties of aluminum alloys.

Much work has been reported about methods for incorporating nanoparticles into metals, including adding nanoparticles in the semi-solid state (which can lead to high damping, per Li et al.

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