Podcast: What manufacturers need to know about the shift toward recycled aluminum alloys
Key takeaways
- Solid-phase alloying of aluminum scrap offers a fast, low-cost path to high-strength, recyclable metal products.
- Multi-element alloys from Ames Lab could replace nickel-based superalloys in high-temp turbine applications.
- Real-time molten metal analysis boosts process control, throughput, and product quality in aluminum production.
In this episode of Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast, Robert Brooks, editor in chief of Foundry Management & Technology and American Machinist, explores three key developments in non-ferrous metallurgy that promise to reshape industrial manufacturing. The discussion highlights breakthrough research from the Pacific Northwest and Ames National Laboratories, including advances in solid-phase alloying of aluminum scrap and the discovery of a new multi-element alloy for high-temperature turbine applications. Robert also examines Arconic’s collaboration with spectroscopy experts to enhance real-time analysis of molten metals. Together, these innovations point to a future where metallurgical progress drives both performance and sustainability across sectors.
Below is an edited excerpt from the podcast:
Hello, and thanks for listening to the Great Question podcast. I'm Robert Brooks with American Machinist and Foundry Management & Technology.
In this installment, I'm going to return to discussing some of the more basic developments shaping manufacturing industries—specifically, metallurgical developments, and even more specifically, non-ferrous metallurgy.
These are some advancements that are well beyond the concept stage and are likely to have an industrial impact in the months to come.
A few weeks ago, I discussed similar developments in iron and steel metallurgy, so this will balance the ledger in some way.
Many listeners know, of course, that the United States has implemented 25% tariffs on imports of semi-finished steel and aluminum. There's some indication that the steel tariffs are affecting foreign and domestic steel production, but the situation in the aluminum supply chain is quite a bit different.
Aluminum has become a significantly important manufacturing material during the past two decades, because it's much lighter than steel but still available at high volumes—and also because it's highly recyclable. So it has become a valuable option for automotive designers and manufacturers, for environmental regulators, and for consumers.
Aluminum was already well established in aerospace design, in construction products, in packaging, in recreation, in transportation, and in several other commercial market segments.
To make a long story short, U.S. manufacturers require a lot of aluminum, and domestic supplies will need to increase in order to avoid significant cost increases when buying aluminum.
A research study published earlier this year by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, in a journal called Nature Communications, indicates that aluminum scrap from the industrial waste stream can produce high-performance metal alloys. The aluminum performs comparably with identical materials produced from primary aluminum, indicating that this solid-phase alloying process may be a low-cost route to bring high-quality recycled metal products to the marketplace.
Let me be a little bit discursive here: what's being imported and hit with tariffs is primary aluminum, which is in very short supply. But it's necessary to beef up the total supply, so the ability to recycle more high-quality material will have an impact on the need to pay tariffs on aluminum products.
Of course, the researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Lab are emphasizing the environmental impact as well as the industrial advantages of their development. One of the material scientists there, Mr. Xiao Li—who is also the lead author of the research study—wrote:
"The novelty of our work here is that by adding a precise amount of metal elements into the mix with aluminum chips as a precursor, you can actually transform it from low-cost waste to a high-cost product. We do this in just a single step, where everything is alloyed in five minutes or less."
Their solid-phase alloying process converts aluminum scrap—blended with copper, zinc, and magnesium—into a precisely designed, high-strength aluminum alloy product. Again, in just a few minutes, compared to several days that may be required to produce a similar outcome through conventional melting, casting, extrusion, or other downstream processes.
The research team used a PNNL-patented technique called Shear Assisted Processing and Extrusion—or SHAPE—to achieve their results. But they noted that the findings should be reproducible with other solid-phase manufacturing processes too.
In the SHAPE process, high-speed rotating dies create friction and heat that disperses the coarse starting ingredients into a uniform alloy, with the same characteristics as a newly manufactured aluminum cast or formed product. There is no energy-intensive bulk melting, which is another cost-cutting factor.