Invention:
This invention involves a software system, platform, and method for high-throughput alloy discovery and screening. It leverages an industrial practice of scrap remelting to systematically harvest chemistry-control samples, followed by storage and recycling. This process can provide higher throughput than conventional alloy synthesis conducted in laboratories.
Background:
Standard practices for scrap recycling involve sorting material, then remelting and diluting with primary aluminum and other alloying elements until the chemical composition of the melt is within the specification range of the target commercial alloy. As post-consumer scraps of various and fluctuating compositions are mixed and remelted, an industrial furnace can routinely go through hundreds of compositions of the melt daily. During charges and chemical adjustments by alloying elements, the melt is periodically “scooped” for chemical control. This invention leverages those unused chemical control samples for high-throughput screening of recycled alloys.
Applications:
- Scrap recycling
- Scrap remelting
- High-throughput alloy discovery and screening
Advantages:
- Easier alloy discovery process
- More efficient scrap recycling and remelting
- Greater order of magnitude of alloy discovery and screening
- Applicable across multiple alloy families
