EXPLORING THE CHEMICAL SPACE FOR RARE-EARTH ADDITIONS TO OPTIMIZE AEROSPACE ALLOYS

摘要

We have embarked upon building a database of the calculated physical, electrical, optical and magnetic properties of known rare earth element (REE) alloys and compounds using computational methods. These methods, in materials research, offer powerful tools to provide fundamental understanding of the behaviors of materials and to support the selection and design of materials that meet application requirements. With advances in computational science and information technology in recent years, materials research and development are shifting from the empirical approaches to the design to achieve optimal functionality based on integrated computational-prediction and experimental-validation methods. REE additions to non-ferrous metal alloys improve their physical and mechanical properties, resulting in lightweight and high strength alloys with special application in the aerospace industry. Physical property results will be presented on (i) a number of binary REE-alloys families and (ii) on the use of rare-earths in improving the mechanical properties of lightweight alloys.