| Abstract Scope |
Recycling of aluminum alloys is the best practice to reduce the carbon footprint of automotive aluminum products; however, the aluminum scrap, “twitch”, is contaminated with impurity elements and the cost of recycling techniques is significantly high. In the present study, a high-pressure die cast (HPDC) aluminum alloy that can tolerate high amounts of twitch is designed, while achieving strength, ductility, castability, and corrosion resistance on par with other HPDC alloys for automotive applications, like the EDAG CityBot vehicle. CALPHAD-based ICME tools are employed for the prediction of the phases formed during solidification under HPDC conditions. A strength and ductility model is developed, and castability metrics for fluidity, volumetric shrinkage, and hot-tearing resistance are applied. Mn addition to passivate the Fe-particles is targeted for pitting corrosion resistance, and the Rice-Wang model is employed aided by DFT calculations to increase the resistance to intergranular corrosion cracking. The designed alloy was experimentally validated. |