Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have created an aluminium alloy that is five times stronger than standard aluminium as well as suitable for Additive Manufacturing (AM), and this could change the way high-performance metals are manufactured. This new aluminium alloy may transform industries such as aerospace, automotive and energy.
Alloy designed through machine learning
The research team combined aluminium with other elements using advanced simulations and machine learning. Instead of testing over one million possible material combinations, they needed to evaluate only forty compositions before identifying their ideal mix, the report states.
When the material was additively manufactured and tested, it showed strength levels on par with the strongest aluminium alloys produced through casting today. More importantly, the new material remains stable under high temperatures, a major requirement for demanding applications like jet engines and automotive components.
“If we can use lighter, high-strength material, this would save a considerable amount of energy for the transportation industry,” said Mohadeseh Taheri-Mousavi, who led the work as a postdoc at MIT and is now an assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University.