Shanghai Jiaotong University develops lightweight high-strength new materials for large aircraft

Recently, Shanghai Jiaotong University disclosed the first batch of magical new materials . The reporter measured two sets of new energy car steering knuckles: the steering knuckles usually made of cast iron, one is very hard to carry; a kind of new ceramic aluminum material, one index finger can be provoked. This super-strong nano-ceramic aluminum alloy was formed by the five generations of “materials people” of Shanghai Jiaotong University. Through the cooperation of industry, academia and research, not only the big car has commercialized it, but even the domestic large aircraft is also undergoing relevant profile testing, and wants to upgrade the aviation materials. In fact, this ceramic aluminum composite material has been used in key components such as Tiangong-1, Tiangong-2, quantum satellites, and meteorological satellites.

From ceramic knives and ceramic armor to ceramic body armor, hardness ceramics are much harder than steel, but they are brittle and fragile; aluminum is the most commonly used light metal, with good toughness but easy to deform. In the 1990s, internationally, the use of physical methods of "doping" ceramics into aluminum to make new materials was not very satisfactory. Wu Renjie, one of the founders of composite materials in China and the founder of the State Key Laboratory of Metal Matrix Composites of Shanghai Jiaotong University, first proposed the use of the "in situ self-generated" chemical method to grow ceramic reinforcements in aluminum alloys to prepare aluminum-based composites. Nowadays, this high-strength material has finally been “cast” in the hands of Professor Wang Haowei from the School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiaotong University. He said: “After becoming nano-scale, the properties of ceramics are truly added to aluminum, creating a natural new world. material."

Wang Haowei, a 90-year-old academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and a 90-year-old academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, came to congratulate him. He told reporters that this team has been studying for decades. Team members remember that when the equipment for the preparation of new materials passed the test for the first time, Wang Haowei suddenly suffered a heart attack at the scene, but fortunately, timely treatment was only a risk.

Experts believe that this nano-ceramic aluminum alloy is not only lightweight, but also has high stiffness, high strength, fatigue resistance, low expansion, high damping, high temperature resistance, etc. Its rigid strength even exceeds the "space metal" titanium alloy.

“One generation of materials, one generation of aircraft.” Wu Guanghui, deputy general manager of China Commercial Aircraft Co., Ltd. and chief designer of domestic large aircraft C919, said that from wood and aluminum to carbon aircraft, aluminum-lithium alloy materials and carbon fiber composites are new. A generation of aircraft developed an ideal structural material. Wide-body aircraft are more suitable for carbon fiber composites, while narrow-body aircraft such as the C919 require metal composites. “This new material is better than existing metal composites.” He revealed that this ceramic aluminum material is undergoing profile testing and is expected to expand into sheet and forging testing, with the potential to develop into a new generation of aviation materials. The Jiaotong University team is also stepping up cooperation with AVIC Commercial Aviation Engine Co., Ltd., including a variety of aero-engine blade tests, to promote new materials for domestic large-scale aircraft with independent intellectual property rights .

According to Liu Yangang, president of Shanghai Jiaotong University Advanced Industrial Technology Research Institute, according to the inter-provincial Quartet agreement, the Huaibei Municipal Government has supported the project to form a pilot and production base with an annual output of 1,000 tons, so that its mass production capacity can meet the requirements of aerospace, aviation, Large-scale applications in the automotive and other fields. For example, in the automotive field, the steering knuckle using this new material has passed the bench test, and the internal combustion engine piston is also about to be mass-produced. Cheng Laifei, vice chairman of the China Composite Materials Society and professor of materials science at Northwestern Polytechnical University, commented that the new material has high performance and comprehensive cost of grounding, which has great potential in military-civilian integration.