Development of New Aluminium Alloys for Future Automotive Structural Components With Less Criticality and Higher Casting Processability

The linear economy follows a “take-make-dispose model, while the circular economy aims for closed-loop system where resources are reused, recycled and regenerated, minimizing waste and environmental impact. Following that, the surge in integration from linear economy to circular economy has been widely witnessed in various European industries for past few years. In automotive industry, aluminium and its alloys are defined as the most suitable candidates, that meets circular economy principles along with technical requirements. However, as per publication by European Commission (EC) on Critical Raw Materials (CRMs), aluminium and its major alloying elements, i.e. silicon and magnesium are declared as CRMs. This poses new constraints to usage of these elements in various automotive structural components. Under these premises, the aim of this work is to implement an innovative roadmap for the development of high-performance aluminium alloys with low content of CRMs and enhanced casting processability. The presented approach shows that by incorporating low criticality concept with high casting processability, it is possible to come up with advanced aluminium alloys with higher mechanical performance that fulfills the requirements of todays manufacturing while addressing global resource challenges. This work also envisioned that researchers in foundry could utilize the descripted approach in designing new aluminium alloys for future applications.