| Abstract Scope |
Aluminium alloy recycling is important for sustainable manufacturing, offering environmental, strength and durability advantages. However, the presence of iron impurities poses a major challenge, undermining properties and recyclability. Conventional remelting leads to formation of coarse Fe-rich intermetallic compounds that negatively influence alloy performance. To address this, rapid solidification from direct strip casting has been studied by scanning electron microscopy, electron backscattered diffraction and atom probe tomography. Our results reveal that Al-2.5Fe (wt.%) produced by direct strip casting exhibits significantly refined microstructure free from coarse Fe-rich intermetallics, with majority of Fe retained in solid solution. Furthermore, the high Fe content in solid solution can accelerate the age hardening kinetics of an Al-1.5Cu-1.5Fe (wt.%) alloy at 160 °C by an order of magnitude. These findings indicate that strip casting significantly enhances Fe-tolerance in aluminium alloys, making it an attractive process for future aluminium recycling, with implications for sustainable high-performance applications. |