Thursday 7th April saw the successful launch of BCAST’s Advanced Metal Casting Centre and the Constellium University Technology Centre. The primary aim is to scale up from fundamental research carried out in the Brunel Centre for Advanced Solidification Techniques (BCAST) and the Liquid Metal Engineering Centre (LiME) under Professor Zhongyun Fan. By validating techniques using industry-standard equipment, the research facility should be able to bridge the so-called “valley of death” between lab-scale success and mainstream factory floor implementation.
Prof Fan and his team have demonstrated how it is possible to condition molten aluminium alloys to produce castings with a much finer grain structure so car components can be made up to 40% lighter. The same techniques are also said to hold significant promise in making mixed aluminium alloys scrap a suitable material for high quality castings. Currently such scrap is difficult or impossible to recycle to a high enough quality for re-use in automotive manufacturing.
Read the full story at Engineering Materials and Brunel University
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