Recent Advances in Aluminum-Cerium Alloys

The advantages of the use of cerium as an alloying element in aluminum include high temperature performance as well as very good corrosion performance. Ce is not a potent strengthening element and is typically used in combination with other alloying elements such as Si, Mg, and Cu to achieve targeted room temperature strength or meet other functional requirements such as coefficient of thermal expansion or conductivity metrics. The interaction of Ce with these alloying elements is not well understood. This presentation looks at work done to develop alloys suitable for cylinder heads and pistons where room and high temperature strength along with low coefficient of thermal expansion and good thermal conductivity is required. Computational and experimental studies are described leading to a better understanding of the Al-Ce system and ultimately to improved alloys containing cerium for these applications. In addition, recent work has focused on the development for these alloys for additive manufacturing, powder consolidation, forging and extrusion.