Next ACRC meeting: Dec 11-12, 2024 UCI, Irvine, CA.
Welcome to the Advanced Casting Research Center (ACRC)
ACRC is one of the largest industry-university consortia (~ 40 members) in North America dedicated to collaborative research in metal processing and manufacturing. Our focus is metal casting and digital manufacturing. We bring fundamental understanding to existing processes, develop new methods, new alloys, and address management-technology interface issues with our industrial partners. ACRC serves the global metal processing and foundry industry as its educational and research home.
ACRC Researchers Win Big at World Foundry Association
HPDC Aluminum Alloy Development for High Conductivity Applications
Al-Si cast alloys account for 80~90% of the world’s castings and HPDC specifically accounts for more than ~60% of this subset due to cost competitiveness for mass production. However, the thermal and electrical conductivity properties of Al-Si alloys are only ~50% of pure Al in the as-cast condition, which can only be increased to ~70% with resource-consuming heat treatments. Improving conductivity properties with decent strength can lead to higher performance and/or lifespan for applications such as electric vehicle powertrains, electric motor rotors, internal combustion engines, heat exchangers, etc. Alternative Al eutectic systems such as the Al-Fe, Al-Fe-Ni, Al-Ni, and Al-Ce systems offer pathways to achieve ↑ conductivity & ↑ strength for castable Al alloys. Current research focuses on establishing the significance of intertwined, hierarchical microstructural parameters that govern conductivity, strength, and castability, to provide a foundation for alloy development strategies.
ACRC Board Chair 2024-2025
Jason Sebastian, QuesTek Innovations LLC