Nickel Aluminum Bronze for Additive Manufacturing Alloy Development

Nickel aluminum bronze alloys (NAB) have been used extensively in sea-water applications where high strength, high toughness and high corrosion resistance are required. To date, there have been very few attempts to extend AM to NAB. The traditional composition of NAB, UNS C95800 containing 9.5% aluminum, 5% nickel, 4.5% iron and remaining copper, is slow cooled and precipitation strengthened and may pose difficulties while processing using techniques that involve rapid heating and cooling. Using computational approaches, it is possible to optimize the NAB composition that is amenable to AM without the loss of the mechanical and corrosion properties due to the formation of unwelcomed phases such as 2. The aim of this project proposed by Universal Technology Corporation (UTC) is to develop modelling tool based on the finite element and phase field approach to optimize the NAB composition. The input data for developing the computational tool will be generated by producing test coupons via SLM of NAB alloyThe Phase I option will demonstrate the feasibility of using the NAB composition optimized using the computational tool as the feedstock to build the test coupons and study them for their mechanical and corrosion behavior.