Recently, the Yufeng Aluminum Alloy Production Center successfully trial-produced large-sized (Φ305) rare earth alloy oil-gas sliding round rods (ALLa alloy). The product's metallographic structure, mechanical properties, appearance quality, and internal purity all passed the tests. All indicators met the customer's requirements. The 71-ton trial production products were used by the customer without any abnormalities, making it the first enterprise in the Yufeng Aluminum Group to achieve batch production of large-sized rare earth (La) alloy oil-gas sliding round rods. The downstream customers have planned to place an additional 1,000-ton batch order in August.
The newly developed large-sized rare earth alloy oil-gas sliding round rod in this trial production is specifically tailored to meet the requirements of the leading enterprises in the downstream fields of new energy vehicle battery structural components and electronic product support components. This marks that the company has added another powerful tool in the research and production of high-end aluminum-based materials for new energy.
Rare earth elements are the "high-quality modifier" for aluminum alloys, capable of effectively refining grains, purifying impurities in the molten material, and strengthening the material properties. They are the key auxiliary materials for manufacturing high-end aluminum materials for batteries. However, the casting of large-sized rare earth alloy rods is highly challenging. Coupled with the characteristics of rare earth alloys being prone to oxidation and burn-off, uneven element dispersion, and easy cracking during molding, by focusing on the optimization of the rare earth alloy process, Yuefeng Aluminum has carried out a full-process process improvement. This trial run adjusted the traditional smelting mode and focused on the precise optimization of the rare earth alloy doping process. The technical team accurately calculated the proportion of rare earth intermediate alloys added and the timing of their input, minimizing the loss of rare earth elements during smelting and ensuring the full activation of the elements. At the same time, a standardized batching system with double-person verification and precise weighing was established to standardize the sequence of raw material input, control the fluctuation range of components, and ensure that the rare earth elements are uniformly dispersed and distributed in the aluminum melt, fundamentally improving the internal structure of the aluminum material and eliminating primary defects such as segregation and porosity.
The casting of large-scale rare earth alloys has the characteristics of deep liquid cavities, large solidification span, and complex thermal stress. Combined with the special solidification laws of rare earth alloys, cracks and deformations are prone to occur. Through multiple rounds of trial casting, the core parameters such as casting temperature, pulling casting speed, cooling intensity, and oil-gas lubrication ratio were optimized. An exclusive segmented casting control scheme for rare earth alloys was formulated to effectively balance the solidification stress and completely solve the problem of unstable formation of large-scale rare earth aluminum rods. The entire process of stable casting production was achieved.
Next, the alloy production center will explore expanding the application scenarios of rare earth alloys in more high-value-added aluminum materials fields, continuously improving product performance, adding new high-quality categories to the company's green and high-end aluminum product portfolio, and helping the company create a new situation in the high-end aluminum processing market.
