ObservatoryNANO report: WP2 - Science and Technology Assessment Automotive and Aeronautics
This report provide information on the processing technologies that could potentially be used in the automotive and aeronautics industry to produce nanostructured metals and alloys.
The nanostructured metals and alloys considered are aluminium, magnesium and titanium.
The report introduces the following techniques used to produce nanostructure metals: severe plastic deformation (SPD), nanopowder sintering, melt spinning and electrodeposition.
Most of the techniques presented in this report are used mainly in lab-scale production for now. Very few exceptions where there have been final products are for small parts like bolt or screws used in the automotive or aeronautics industries. For their use in structural applications in the industrial scale, these novel materials have to be obtained in bulk forms with large dimensions, often in large volumes and always with competitive costs compared with the current solutions. Technically it is not possible yet to comply will all the above mentioned constraints at the same time, but the perspectives are optimistic, as the development of nanostructured materials is a fast-growing field and the potential of these materials is very important, as explained in the report.
This report does not contain any economic information about the processes (production costs, production rates and investments necessary). This is a field that should be analysed in a separate study, so that the industry could evaluate the cost-benefit balance associated to the processes for bulk nanostructured metals.
