Niocorp Developments Ltd (NB)

[chico237]

SCANDIUM-COPPER ALLOYS ~A counterintuitive way to make stronger alloys~ FEBRUARY 9, 2023
https://norwegianscitechnews.com/2023/02/a-counterintuitive-way-to-make-stronger-alloys/
Copper atoms alone can easily move through the material by exchanging positions with vacancies as shown in (a), as a consequence they can easily clump together forming large Al-Cu intermetallic particles (b), but when combined with scandium atoms and vacancies they form clusters that remain more stable (c). Graphic: Yanjun Li / NTNU

Aluminum is a metal that is widely used to make components in the aerospace, transport, and construction industries, in part because it is lightweight yet durable. Alloys of aluminum retain these qualities but are stronger than aluminum alone.
"If it was a pure aluminum, of course, it's not strong enough," says Yanjun Li, Professor of Physical Metallurgy in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at NTNU.
Large particles decrease strength
But in recent years, researchers attempting to make nanograined alloys of aluminum containing copper have run into a problem: the copper atoms have a tendency to clump together, forming coarse particles with aluminum inside the material, especially at temperatures higher than 100°C.

YanJun Lee and Hanne-Sofie Søreide examine Atom Probe Tomography images of the aluminium alloys they have created. Photo: Per Henning/NTNU

In work published in the journal Nature Communications, the researchers added scandium atoms as well as copper ones to aluminum, while also increasing the number of vacancies.
The scandium and copper atoms, together with the vacancies, formed structures that could not easily move through the material.
"Together they are very stable," says Li. "It becomes more difficult for any of them to move."
Thanks to the new scandium-copper structures, large aluminum-copper particles that would have previously formed were completely suppressed, even when the alloy was heated to 200°C for 24 hours.
This stability means the copper atoms stay evenly distributed throughout the material, and the alloy retains its added strength.

Aluminium casting. Pure aluminium isn't particularly strong on its own. By adding other elements we can create alloys with the kinds of properties we want. Photo: Norsk Hydro ASA/CC BY-NC-SA 2.0


Freezing solute atoms in nanograined aluminum alloys via high-density vacancies
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-31222-6

~SCANDIUM COPPER ALLOYS~ Looking GOOD!
FORM YOUR OWN OPINIONS & CONCLUSIOINS ABOVE!



IMHO: Waiting for material news as it becomes available with many!
Chico