Investigating the Potential of Secondary Aluminum Cast Alloys Used as Wrought Alloys

Aluminum is by far the most produced non-ferrous metal. About one third of the annual aluminum production is generated by recycling scrap. A stare scheme of alloy classifications, the difficult removal of foreign elements, and economic constraints in scrap sorting make the way of downcycling favorable. The product in this case is a secondary cast alloy. The main field of application for these alloys is in the internal combustion engine. The global trends toward electric vehicles will potentially shrink the demand for those alloys with a highly specificized field of application. Future scrapping of gasoline or diesel-powered end-of-life-vehicles (ELV) may lead to a surplus of scraps that cannot be recycled in a proper way as they already contain high amounts of foreign elements. This work investigates the direct potential of the two secondary cast alloys, EN-AC-46000 and EN-AC-46200. Both alloys were produced on laboratory scale, for their use as wrought alloys. The alloys were heat treated and successfully rolled to sheets. Tensile tests were performed in solution-annealed and artificial-aged condition. The results show an interesting combination of mechanical properties that may trigger further investigations towards an application of these alloys as sheet material.