Active

Contract Opportunity

TECHNOLOGY LICENSING OPPORTUNITY

New Aluminum Foundry Alloy for High-Temperature Automotive and Aerospace Applications

A new aluminum alloy delivers impressive castability and mechanical properties at lower temperatures than current alloys.

Opportunity: Idaho National Laboratory (INL), managed and operated by Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC (BEA), offers the opportunity to explore a license and/or collaborative research agreement to commercialize this new aluminum foundry alloy for automotive and aerospace applications. This technology transfer opportunity is part of a dedicated effort to convert government-funded research into job opportunities, businesses, and, ultimately, an improved way of life for the American people.

Overview: Aluminum alloys are widely used in aerospace, automotive, and other industries for their high temperature and mechanical properties. However, there is an unmet need for lightweight alloys that can perform at temperatures as high as 300-400°C.

Description: A multi-institution team of researchers, funded under DOE’s Critical Materials Institute, has developed a new Al-Ce-Cu-Mn-Zr-Sc foundry alloy with excellent castability (better than alloys A336 or A339) that does not require solution heat treat and quench and could be used after the T5 treatment, which is a heat treatment that improves the tensile strength of the alloy at ambient temperature but weakens its tensile strength at elevated temperatures.

Benefits:

• Delivers the castability and mechanical properties at 300°C and 350°C that are impossible to reach using current alloys.


• The properties mentioned above are as follows:
  
  
  
  • UTS > 260 MPA; YS > 190 MPa; Elongation El > 6-8%; hardness > 80 HV
  
  
  • 100-hour strength: at 300¬∞C YS > 70-80 MPa; at 350¬∞C YS > 30-40 MPa
  
  
  
  

Applications:

• Aluminum alloys for aerospace, automotive, and other high-temperature applications.


• While not yet researched, it can be applied to lightweight armor.

Development Status: TRL 5 system has been validated in a relevant environment.

IP Status: Provisional Application No. 63/368,328, “Aluminum Alloys for High-Temperature Applications and Related Methods,” BEA Docket No. BA-1338.

INL seeks to license the above intellectual property to a company with a demonstrated ability to bring such inventions to the market. Exclusive rights in defined fields of use may be available. Added value is placed on relationships with small businesses, start-up companies, and general entrepreneurship opportunities.

Please visit Technology Deployment’s website at https://inl.gov/inl-initiatives/technology-deployment for more information on working with INL and the industrial partnering and technology transfer process.

Companies interested in learning more about this licensing opportunity should contact Andrew Rankin at td@inl.gov.

Attachments/Links