Development of A Novel Casting Alloy Composed of Aluminum and Cerium with other Minor Additions

Eutectic casting alloys of aluminum and cerium are a recent discovery and early research describes an alloy with great potential to meet the growing demand for a lightweight, economical, high specific strength material for use in high-temperature or extremely corrosive environments. The broad application of aluminum alloys across industry sectors is driven by their collection of balanced properties including economical cost, high specific strength, and flexibility of their production pathways. Additionally, their high corrosion resistance makes them a good choice for structural materials. Despite this, the push to use aluminum alloys in ever more extreme environments with higher temperatures, stresses, and corrosive potential has precipitated the need to develop a next generation of aluminum alloys. Aluminum-cerium alloys which take advantage of the stable eutectic intermetallic formed between aluminum and cerium has the potential to exhibit all of the necessary material properties for recognition as a next generation aluminum alloy. In this report the early stage development of aluminum-cerium alloys designed for casting will be discussed. Work will include: the discussion of castability and mechanical properties of several binary and higher order alloys, a construction of the design paradigm for aluminum-cerium alloys, discussion of possible cerium substitutes, investigation of extended high-temperature stability of aluminum-cerium alloys, a study of the many ways cerium can impact corrosion resistance of aluminum alloys, and a discussion of the possible implications broad use of aluminum-cerium alloys will have for future supply chains and foundry infrastructure. Aluminum-cerium alloys have potential to become a major family of aluminum alloys, like Al-Si and Al-Cu, but much work remains to be completed. This report clearly details the earliest work in the burgeoning field of aluminum-cerium alloy, and motivates the continued research into their use in modern engineering design.