1. Forming of Lightweight Metals
PIs: Marko Knezevic and Yannis Korkolis, UNH
Amine Benzerga, TAMU

2. 6. Forming of lightweight metals
Industrial Need and Relevance: The project will focus on forming of lightweight alloys. Transportation and defense industries are in a constant demand for lightweight, strong, and formable alloys. In addition to Al alloys, more difficult to form Mg alloys often rise as the top candidates. The Center, along with industrial members, plans to address the forming issues by (a) material modifications and (b) process innovations.
NSF I/UCRC Planning Meeting

3. 6. Forming of lightweight metals
Project Objectives:
Create strong and formable lightweight alloys by accumulative roll bonding (ARB) (5x stronger than a constituent alloy with at least 5% uniform elongation)
Test and characterize the created material
Understand material behavior through physics-based modeling
Aid forming by continuous-bending-under-tension (CBT)
NSF I/UCRC Planning Meeting

4. 6. Forming of lightweight metals
Approach/Methodologies:
Schematic of CBT process and the CBT machine at UNH
Schematic of ARB process for fabricating bulk lamellar composite sheets. Micrograph showing a proof of concept created material.
NSF I/UCRC Planning Meeting

5. 6. Forming of lightweight metals
Approach/Methodologies:
Modeling of the composite sheet
CBT process modeling
Hole expansion formability testing
NSF I/UCRC Planning Meeting

6. 6. Forming of lightweight metals
Deliverables: - Material: lamellar composite of a lightweight alloy and another immiscible material - Knowledge required to create such material - Material propertied and forming performances - Material model for predicting the material behavior
NSF I/UCRC Planning Meeting

7. 6. Forming of lightweight metals
Estimated cost of the project is $450k for three years.
Task / Milestone
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
ARB fabrication
Process modeling
Material characterization
Material testing
Formability and CBT
Microstructure modeling
NSF I/UCRC Planning Meeting

8. 6. Forming of lightweight metals
Discussion:
Are the industrial need and relevance accurately captured?
Are the objectives realistic and complete?
Are the approaches technically sound and appropriate?
Are there alternative implementation paths or better approaches?
Are the deliverables impactful to industrial partners?
Are the budget and timeline reasonable?
Are there conflicts with intellectual property or trade secrets?
NSF I/UCRC Planning Meeting