Nanoparticles in aluminium

Sigmund J. Andersen and Calin D. Marioara of SINTEF Material and Chemistry have been awarded SINTEF’s Award for Outstanding Research for 2007, for their work on characterizing the structures and characteristics of the nanoparticles that precipitate in aluminium alloys during heat treatment.

This work is of great importance for the strength and forming capacity of the metal being treated, and with modern high-resolution microscopy precipitates down to only a few atoms in size can be studied. These scientists have done pioneering work on mapping particles in a type of alloy with widespread industrial applications. Getting better understanding of these particles opens the prospect of developing aluminium alloys with even better properties than those of current materials.