Scientists at NUST MISIS have presented a new steel composition designed for the automotive, aviation, railway, and machine-building industries. The alloy combines high strength and ductility, offering an economical alternative to expensive nickel materials.
The new alloy includes iron, manganese, aluminum, carbon, and silicon. It allows for reducing the weight of structures while maintaining their strength, making it promising for the production of parts in various industries. Testing on a thermomechanical simulator showed that the addition of aluminum and silicon improves the balance between strength and ductility. After heat treatment at 1050 °C, the alloy reaches a yield strength of over 1000 MPa, which exceeds the performance of many modern automotive alloys. The research results are published in the scientific journal Materials (Q2).
According to Associate Professor Alexander Churyumov, aluminum prevents the formation of carbides, reducing the material's brittleness and increasing its resistance to impact and low temperatures.
When carbon combines with metal, carbides are formed, which reduce the ductility and corrosion resistance of the material. The addition of aluminum changed the behavior of the steel: the strength increased without serious loss of ductility. We also managed to increase resistance to impact and low temperatures.
Junior Researcher Alena Kazakova noted that the use of available metals makes the alloy economically advantageous for mass application.
In the study, we used only available metals. Thanks to this, the new steel can be used in a variety of areas where it is important to reduce the weight of the structure without increasing costs.
NUST MISIS ranks 51-75 in the ARWU global ranking for metallurgy and first in Russia. The university's developments are used in various industries, including medicine and rocket science. The new alloy may find application in the production of body panels, frames, and power elements for transport and mechanical engineering.
Read more materials on the topic:
Mathematical model from NUST MISIS will increase the efficiency of the mining industry