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EP-4735658-A1 - METHODS OF PRODUCING ALUMINUM ALLOYS FROM RECYCLED ALUMINUM MATERIALS HAVING HIGH ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY

EP4735658A1EP 4735658 A1EP4735658 A1EP 4735658A1EP-4735658-A1

Abstract

Disclosed herein are recycle-friendly aluminum alloys, methods of making and processing such alloys, and products prepared from such alloys. More particularly, disclosed are recycle-friendly aluminum alloys exhibiting good electrical conductivity and corrosion resistance properties despite being produced from less prime aluminum. The aluminum alloys can be used in electrochemical applications, including as current collectors in batteries.

Inventors

  • KANG, DaeHoon
  • PEARSON, CHARLES
  • KHORSAND, SHOHREH
  • SEN, Fatih Gurcag
  • KAEMPGEN, MARTTI
  • MAJUMDAR, DIPTARKA
  • DAS, Sazol Kumar
  • ASTON, Todd Alan
  • GOPALASWAMY, RAJESH
  • FORGHANI, Farsad
  • ROSE, Rory

Assignees

  • Novelis Inc.

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20240617

Claims (20)

  1. 1. A method of producing an aluminum alloy product, the method comprising: casting an aluminum alloy to form a cast product, wherein the aluminum alloy comprises 0.50 - 2.00 wt. % Si, 0.05 - 0.80 wt. % Fe, 0.01 - 0.35 wt. % Cu, 0.01 - 1.00 wt. % Mn, 0.50 - 2.00 wt. % Mg, up to 0.70 wt. % Zn, up to 0.15 wt. % Cr, up to 0.10 wt. % Ti, up to 0.15 wt. % impurities, and Al; homogenizing the cast product; hot rolling the cast product to produce a hot rolled product; cold rolling the hot rolled product to produce an aluminum alloy product; optionally aging the aluminum alloy product to a temper condition; and artificially aging the aluminum alloy product at a temperature from 250 °C to 450 °C for 10 minutes to 30 hours; wherein the aluminum alloy product has an electrical conductivity greater than 45 % based on the international annealed copper standard (IACS).
  2. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the artificial aging step comprises aging the aluminum alloy product at a temperature from 300 °C to 350 °C for 10 minutes to 30 hours.
  3. 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the artificial aging step removes Mg and Si from solid solution to produce Mg2Si precipitates.
  4. 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the artificial aging step is configured to remove at least one or more of Mg, Si, Zn, Mn, Cr, and Cu from solid solution.
  5. 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the artificial aging step produces at least a 5 % increase in size or distribution of one or more of Mg2Si precipitates, AhG^MgsSi? precipitates, or MgZn2 precipitates compared to the aluminum alloy product prior to artificial aging.
  6. 6. The method of claim 4, wherein the artificial aging step produces a precipitate comprising one or more of Mg, Si, Cu, Cr, or Zn.
  7. 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the aluminum alloy comprises a total solute content of at least 2.5 wt. %.
  8. 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the aluminum alloy comprises a combined content of Mg, Si, Cu, Zn, Cr, Fe, and Mn of at least 2.5 wt. %.
  9. 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the aluminum alloy comprises at least 60 wt. % recycled aluminum materials, based on the total weight of the aluminum alloy.
  10. 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the recycled aluminum materials comprise used beverage scrap.
  11. 11. The method of claim 9, wherein the recycled aluminum materials comprise at least one of: used beverage scrap, casting scrap, brazing scrap, automotive scrap, electronics scrap, or architectural scrap.
  12. 12. The method of claim 1, wherein the homogenization step comprises soaking the cast product at a homogenization temperature from 450° C to 600° C for 10 hours to 24 hours.
  13. 13. The method of claim 1, further comprising annealing the hot rolled product to produce an annealed hot rolled product.
  14. 14. The method of claim 13, wherein the annealing step comprises heating the hot rolled product to an annealing temperature from 300° C to 450° C for 0.5 hour to 30 hours.
  15. 15. The method of claim 1, further comprising solution heat treating the aluminum alloy product.
  16. 16. The method of claim 15, wherein the solution heat treatment step comprises heating the aluminum alloy product at a solution heat treatment temperature from 500 °C to 600 °C for 5 seconds to 10 hours prior to the artificial aging step.
  17. 17. An aluminum alloy current collector, wherein the aluminum alloy current collector comprises an aluminum alloy product prepared by a method comprising any of claims 1-16.
  18. 18. A method of producing an aluminum alloy product, the method comprising: casting an aluminum alloy to form a cast product, wherein the aluminum alloy comprises a 3xxx series aluminum alloy, a 5xxx series aluminum alloy, or a 6xxx series aluminum alloy; homogenizing the cast product; hot rolling the cast product to produce a hot rolled product; cold rolling the hot rolled product to produce an aluminum alloy product; optionally aging the aluminum alloy product to a temper condition; and artificially aging the aluminum alloy product at a temperature from 250 °C to 450 °C for 10 minutes to 30 hours; wherein the aluminum alloy product has an electrical conductivity greater than 45 % based on the international annealed copper standard (IACS).
  19. 19. An aluminum alloy comprising 0.50 - 2.00 wt. % Si, 0.05 - 0.80 wt. % Fe, 0.01 - 0.35 wt. % Cu, 0.01 - 1.00 wt. % Mn, 0.50 - 2.00 wt. % Mg, up to 0.70 wt. % Zn, up to 0.15 wt. % Cr, up to 0.10 wt. % Ti, up to 0.15 wt. % impurities, and Al.
  20. 20. The aluminum alloy of claim 19, comprising 0.50 - 1.80 wt. % Si, 0.10 - 0.70 wt. % Fe, 0.01 - 0.30 wt. % Cu, 0.10 - 0.90 wt. % Mn, 0.60 - 2.00 wt. % Mg, up to 0.50 wt. % Zn, up to 0.15 wt. % Cr, up to 0.10 wt. % Ti, up to 0.15 wt. % impurities, and Al.

Description

METHODS OF PRODUCING ALUMINUM ALLOYS FROM RECYCLED ALUMINUM MATERIALS HAVING HIGH ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION [0001] This application claims the benefit of and priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/511,251 filed June 30, 2023, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all intents and purposes. FIELD [0002] This disclosure relates to the fields of material science, material chemistry, metallurgy, aluminum alloys, aluminum alloy products, aluminum fabrication, and related fields. More specifically, the disclosure relates to recycle-friendly aluminum alloys having high-electrical conductivity that can replace aluminum alloys including a high content of prime aluminum. The recycle-friendly aluminum alloys having high-electrical conductivity can be used to produce, for example, electrode current collectors used in battery applications. BACKGROUND [0003] Generally, aluminum alloys used as electrode current collectors in battery applications require high electrical conductivity. For example, an electrode member of a lithium-ion battery includes a positive electrode plate, a separator, and a negative electrode plate. The positive electrode plate may be produced from an aluminum alloy having excellent electrical conductivity and less heat generation without affecting electrical efficiency of the battery. Prime aluminum has a high electrical conductivity thereby providing good conductivity properties. The higher the electrical conductivity, the more easily the electricity is conducted. Aluminum alloys that include high amounts of prime aluminum have higher electrical conductivity values than aluminum alloys that have less prime aluminum. Therefore, Ixxx series or 3xxx series aluminum alloys are generally used to produce electrode current collectors. Additionally, aluminum alloys that include high amounts of solute elements typically have lower electrical conductivity than aluminum alloys that include less solute elements. As a result, aluminum alloys used for producing parts in battery applications are often produced from aluminum alloys including a high content of prime aluminum (e.g., greater than 99 % prime aluminum) due to the high amounts of prime aluminum that provide good electrical conductivity and corrosion resistance properties. [0004] There has been an interest in using recycled aluminum alloy materials for producing aluminum alloys used in battery applications. However, recycled aluminum alloy materials may be unsuitable for use in preparing high performance aluminum alloys as the recycled aluminum alloy materials may contain high levels of certain undesirable elements. Specifically, recycled aluminum alloy materials may include certain alloying elements (e.g., Si, Fe, and/or Mn) in amounts that adversely affect the electrical conductivity properties or corrosion resistance of an aluminum alloy. For these reasons, it is not practical to use high amounts of recycled aluminum alloy materials for producing aluminum alloys for use as electrode current collectors, without negatively impacting desirable alloy properties. SUMMARY [0005] Covered embodiments of the invention are defined by the claims, not this summary. This summary is a high-level overview of various aspects of the invention and introduces some of the concepts that are further described in the Detailed Description section below. This summary is not intended to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used in isolation to determine the scope of the claimed subject matter. The subject matter should be understood by reference to appropriate portions of the entire specification, any or all drawings and each claim. [0006] Provided herein are recycle-friendly aluminum alloys that exhibit high electrical conductivity despite being produced from less prime aluminum. The aluminum alloys described herein comprise 0.50 - 2.00 wt. % Si, 0.05 - 0.80 wt. % Fe, 0.01 - 0.35 wt. % Cu, 0.01 - 1.00 wt. % Mn, 0.50 - 2.00 wt. % Mg, up to 0.70 wt. % Zn, up to 0.15 wt. % Cr, up to 0.10 wt. % Ti, up to 0.15 wt. % impurities, and Al. In some embodiments, the aluminum alloy comprises 0.50 - 1.80 wt. % Si, 0.10 - 0.70 wt. % Fe, 0.01 - 0.30 wt. % Cu, 0.10 - 0.90 wt. % Mn, 0.60 - 2.00 wt. % Mg, up to 0.50 wt. % Zn, up to 0.15 wt. % Cr, up to 0.10 wt. % Ti, up to 0.15 wt. % impurities, and Al. In some embodiments, the aluminum alloy comprises 0.60 - 1.75 wt. % Si, 0.10 - 0.60 wt. % Fe, 0.01 - 0.25 wt. % Cu, 0.25 - 0.75 wt. % Mn, 0.75 - 1.80 wt. % Mg, up to 0.25 wt. % Zn, up to 0.05 wt. % Cr, up to 0.05 wt. % Ti, up to 0.15 wt. % impurities, and Al. In some embodiments, the aluminum alloy comprises 0.70 - 2.00 wt. % Si, 0.05 - 0.80 wt. % Fe, 0.01 - 0.35 wt. % Cu, 0.10 - 1.00 wt. % Mn, 0.50 - 2.00 wt. % Mg, up to 0.70 wt. % Zn, up to 0.15 wt. % Cr, up to 0.10 wt. % Ti, up to 0.15 wt. % impurities, and Al. In some embodiments, the aluminum alloy comprises 0.75 - 1.