Innovative High Strength Nanostructured Aluminum-Based Composites

This Phase I SBIR Program will demonstrate and help mature the use of mechanical alloyed, thermally stable nanocrystalline aluminum alloys produced by extrusion and roll Processing. These nano strengthened alloys are sensitive to manufacturing processes, but offer the potential for thermally stable nanocomposite aluminum alloys showing a 100% increase in strength over current aluminum alloys, while retaining up to 8% ductility and being thermally sable to 350C. This program will investigate ductility and toughness optimization in PM aluminum-lithium nano composites using the ductile phase toughening approach developed over the past 5 years. With ductile phase toughening, ductility and toughness in high strength alloys is enabled by adding back coarse (micron-scale) grained aluminum particles with the mechanically alloyed aluminum composite material, to provide a strong 140ksi+ material with improved ductility over standard high strength nano aluminum alloys.