Editor’s Note: As many articles have appeared in Light Metal Age (both in the magazine and online) describing and following the friction stir welding (FSW) process, especially its application in joining aluminum alloys in various forms and tempers, readers should be familiar with its advantages. In the FSW process, aluminum components are joined in the solid […]
Eric Westlund
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Editor’s Note: Although the Aluminum Association has certified hundreds of international aluminum alloys in each of the wrought and cast categories, aluminum metallurgists keep adding new recipes to meet the challenges required in their products, which span a range of applications—transportation, B&C, packaging, and various industrial and consumer products. The focused patent search presented hereafter reviews […]
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October 2020
Cover Automakers are moving deeper into the development of electric vehicles. For example, for the first time ever Ford introduced a one-off Mustang Cobra Jet factory drag racer with all-electric propulsion in order to demonstrate the capabilities of electric powertrains. This is one of several models the company has developed with electric and hybrid electric […]
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Complimenting our September 2019 International Patent Calendar (which focused mostly on methods of anodizing aluminum), this month’s collection of patents focuses on special applications of anodized aluminum surfaces. The uniqueness of anodized aluminum oxide coatings in terms of their chemical, physical, and mechanical properties has resulted in many innovations in various industrial and scientific fields, […]
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The aluminum casthouse is where aluminum wrought processing and shape casting begins, and there are many casthouse functions to consider. Scrap sorting, decoating of organic coatings on scrap, remelting, alloying, melt purification by refining and degassing, grain refining, melt transfer to casting station, casting by direct chill or other means, ingot heat treatment, and dross […]
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Posted in:
August 2020
Cover Steve Berthelot, site supervisor for GNA alutech, shows some of the finer points of his company’s 100 ton capacity homogenizing furnace at the new Ellwood Aluminum facility. (See article beginning on page 6.) Articles Ellwood Embarks on a Journey to the Lighter Side with New Aluminum Casting Complex Page 6 World Secondary Aluminum Industry […]
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Experienced welders will tell you that, compared to welding steel, welding aluminum and its alloys is not difficult but different. Steel, being one of the common construction materials, most welders and myself included started by learning how to weld steel. As aluminum has especially gained market share in transportation, welding aluminum is challenged in various […]
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The quest for higher strength materials, especially in transportation markets, seems to be never ending. The aluminum industry is meeting the demand with new alloys and heat treatments aimed at optimizing properties made of age hardening aluminum. Processing age hardening aluminum alloys to meet high strength levels in various product forms requires special heat treatment, […]