MATERIALS | COMPOSITES
ACROE MTHPEO NSEWIT BELSACK It’s not just 80s music and fashion that have seen a
revival in recent times; it appears the renaissance has
extended into the realms of engineering materials.
Aluminium Matrix
Composites (AMCs) rst
appeared around 40 years
ago, for use in automotive
components and far from being
a short-lived comeback trend, it
looks as though they are here to
stay, thanks to a raft of applications
showcasing their capabilities across
multiple sectors.
When AMCs were in their infancy
during the 80s, often the advantages
were over-sold and their properties
were largely unproven, cutting
short their potential and doing
little for their reputation. As carbon
composites became more widely
adopted, AMCs were forgotten
by engineers and designers, and
fell off the radar. However, fast
forward almost four decades, and
subsequent R&D investment into the
manufacturing of these composites
has resulted in progress that has
been deemed a “game-changer”.
Sectors such as aerospace are under
sustained pressure to improve
performance, and with weight
reduction playing a key role, AMCs
are now rmly back on centre stage.
Leading the way in the
development of AMCs is UK rm
Alvant. Originally formed in 2003 as
CMT, Alvant has created a process
known as Advanced Liquid Pressure
Forming (ALPF), a method by which
it brings together aluminium, which
acts as the matrix, and a high strength
reinforcement bre to create a highperformance
Aluminium Matrix
Composite material. There are four
Alvant AMC materials families,
namely AlXal (pronounced Al-Zal) – a
continuous bre reinforced AMC;
ParXal – a particle loaded AMC;
AerXal – an aluminium syntactic
foam; and CorXal – a unique highperformance
multi-phase AMC
similar in concept to a sandwich
material but made in a single-shot
process providing ultra-high stiffness
and low density (~1.5g/cc).
Now the proprietary rights owner
of the ALPF AMC manufacturing
process, Alvant is creating a stir in
aerospace, defence and automotive
elds, with involvement in several
key projects hailing the shift from
R&D to commercial applications.
AMCs can be used to engineer
durable lightweight components for
harsh environments. Compared to
unreinforced metals, AMCs are
AMCs can be
used to engineer
durable lightweight
components for harsh
environments.
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