Under pressure, aluminum as hard as steel

2010/11/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Materialak
• Fisika

Without loosening the lightness, a group of scientists of international materials has given aluminum a characteristic that has no normal conditions: the hardness. The new aluminum produced can withstand up to three times the load that supports conventional aluminum.

To provoke this change of behavior, a team of researchers formed by Australian, Russian and American scientists resorted to the technique known as HPT or high-pressure torsion. Between the two contours was placed an aluminum alloy containing a little magnesium and zinc, and which applied a pressure of 60,000 kilos per square centimeter. For a month they had the metal in this situation. Pressure and time under pressure allowed to modify the basic structure of the metal.

The APT tomography showed that the components of the aluminium alloy were reorganized, reducing the aluminum granules and grouping the zinc and magnesium atoms in different sizes.

Scientists have not been able to explain why aluminum alloy becomes harder when changing organization. Regardless of the explanation, multiple uses have been proposed for aluminum with these properties, from aircraft components and cars to garments for soldiers.