The automotive, construction, mining and defense industries are in constant search for strong, tough and light materials. The materials of choice, such as light alloys, namely: magnesium, aluminum, titanium, as well as copper alloys have reached their limits in term of the achievable properties, while steels usually do not satisfy the “strong-and-light” criterion. The possibility to produce metal-metal composites by combining different metals using special geometry and length scale of the “inner architecture” of the engineered composite presents a unique opportunity to create a new composite materials with superior properties.
The development of nano-structuring technologies based on severe plastic (shear) deformation, so called SPD-processes, has made possible the production of metallic hybrid materials such as Fe/Al, Ti/Cu, Twinning Induced Plasticity (TWIP)/ Transformation Induced Plasticity (TRIP) steels composite etc. for different applications. Among several SPD methods, accumulative roll bonding (ARB) available at IFM, Deakin University has been well tested for production of multilayered – hybrids.
A correlative microscopy approach, i.e. combining information obtained from techniques such as atom probe tomography (APT), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and electron backscattering analysis (EBSD) on samples prepared using focused ion beam/scanning electron microscope (FIB/SEM) all available at IFM, Deakin University, enables to a precise control of the metallic hybrid microstructures over a range of length scales, from micro to nano-scale.
As a result, we are able to design hybrid material with desirable properties at minimum cost and to create new modelling approach to predict and optimize the properties of hybrid materials.