Aluminum alloy, as the second most used metallic material after steel, is widely applied in the manufacturing of various lightweight structural components due to its advantages such as low density, easy processing, recyclability and abundant raw material resources. China has a huge output of aluminum processing materials and aluminum castings, accounting for more than 50% of the world's total output. Among them, 7xxx series and 2xxx series aluminum alloys are key lightweight structural materials for aerospace vehicles.
However, with the continuous improvement of weight reduction and performance requirements for aerospace vehicles, the development of traditional aluminum alloy materials has gradually hit a bottleneck. It is urgent to develop new high-strength and high-toughness aluminum alloy materials with lower density, better comprehensive performance and better cost performance.
Against this backdrop, since the "14th Five-Year Plan", by integrating advanced material computing technologies and fully leveraging China's magnesium resource advantages, the addition of magnesium in aluminum alloys has been significantly increased, and "high-magnesium lightweight and strong aluminum" has been successfully developed independently. The density of "high-magnesium light strength aluminum" is reduced by 5% to 10%, and the raw material cost is decreased by 15%. Under the same alloy composition conditions, through the adjustment of heat treatment processes, a wide range of comprehensive performance matching can be achieved, replacing multiple widely used main aluminum alloys at present, realizing "one material for multiple uses", and bringing significant weight reduction effects to aerospace vehicles. At present, China General Research Institute of Nonferrous Metals is actively connecting with manufacturing enterprises in the fields of aviation, aerospace, high-speed rail, new energy vehicles, robots and civilian consumer electronics, accelerating the comprehensive assessment and verification of industrial products of this material, and striving to achieve mass production and application during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period.
"High-magnesium light-strength aluminum" is a high-strength and high-toughness aluminum alloy with original technological attributes in China. Currently, it has completed the international and domestic patent layout. Its successful research and development not only enabled our country to break away from the traditional development path of long-term tracking and imitating Western high-strength and high-toughness aluminum alloy technologies and products, but also established our own technological and intellectual property barriers in the field of high-strength and high-toughness aluminum alloys, achieving a leap from "catching up" to "competing on the same stage", and even "surpassing and leading".
At the research site, I was filled with countless emotions: "Scientific research is a protracted battle. One must have the spirit of never giving up and always striving for the peak. When facing difficulties, one should have the courage to 'build strong fortresses and fight tough battles'. Only in this way can we truly achieve original scientific research results that are' indispensable and unique to us'."
From passively "filling the gaps" to proactively "strengthening the strengths", the National Key Laboratory of Nonferrous Metal Structural Materials has persevered and fulfilled its mission, mastering the "ace in the hole" in the technological competition with foreign countries. "Having the cards in hand, I feel at ease." "
Take root and thrive, and empower industries. It is learned that China General Research Institute of Nonferrous Metals is currently increasing its investment, rapidly promoting the industrialization of new products, actively cooperating with large aluminum processing enterprises, and striving to provide support for the development of China's high-end equipment manufacturing industry.
