Potential Al-Fe Cast Alloys for Motor Applications in Electric Vehicles: An Overview
Su Feng Liu, Anita Hu, Henry Hu, Xueyuan Nie, Narayan C. Kar
Abstract
Iron is the main component of the earth's core, the most abundant element on the earth (about 35%), and it is relatively high in the sun and other stars. Also, it is a common and cheap metal in the manufacturing industry. Recently, with the rapid development of electric vehicles, more and more automotive companies are willing to develop new lightweight material for electric motors used in electrical vehicles. The iron–containing aluminum alloys can be considered as a good candidate, due to its great strength and electricity performance. This review describes various properties of aluminum-iron alloys including mechanical properties and electrical conductivities, as well their relation to the Fe contents. Also, metallurgical aspects of aluminum-iron alloys, including phase diagrams, equilibrium and non-equilibriun solidification, microstructure development, and castability. The further research and development work are outlined in terms of developing aluminum-iron alloys for some potential and value-added automotive applications.