ICME Aids Aluminum Product Development at Alcoa

Alcoa has been using ICME for many years to develop new products. Target properties such as strength and fracture toughness are identified and models are used to guide the selection of initial alloy compositions for a particular application.  Thermodynamic models are used to optimize compositions in terms of the types and amounts of strengthening phases expected to form, and then reconciled with solidification models that predict macrosegregation in ingots made by direct chill casting.  Additional solidification and thermodynamic models are used to design suitable thermal practices considering the predicted microstructure and the controls of commercial furnaces.  Subsequently, deformation models are used to design thermomechanical processes, and to predict resulting textures.  Finally, thermodynamic modeling is utilized again to design the solution heat treatment and aging practices. In this presentation, a 7xxx alloy will be used as an example to showcase the models Alcoa has developed.