Alloy Design for Enhanced Performance

Alloy composition and processing history has a profound effect in the properties and performance of materials, for better or worse. In our lab, we are working to understand the effect of various alloying elements on the properties of Al and Mg alloys. For Al alloys, we are interested in how alloy composition affects performance of cold spray deposited structural repairs to naval and aerospace systems. For Mg alloys, we are focused on controlling the corrosion rate of biodegradable medical device coatings while driving specific functionality. Additionally, we are exploring additives to friction stir welds (FSW) on Mg alloys to reduce the corrosion rate of these welds and expand the application of Mg alloys in light-weight vehicle design. This work has been support by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) and UA’s Office of Research and Economic Development (ORED).

Materials of interest include:

• Al-Mg alloys
• Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloys
• Mg-Zn alloys