Strong yet ductile heat-resistant aluminum alloy by additive manufacturing
Aluminum (Al) alloys are pivotal structural materials, indispensable for advanced energy-saving solutions and lightweight technologies. However, the limited heat resistance and low critical strength of the present commercial Al alloys at elevated temperatures (300-400 °C) have constrained their broader applications. Here, we present a facile strategy to additively manufacture strong yet ductile heat-resistant Al alloys using laser powder bed fusion (PBF-LB). By embedding heat-resistant multicomponent intermetallic nanophases (HMINPs) at the solidified cell boundaries, the as-printed alloy forms thermally stable cellular structures containing a high-volume fraction (~14 vol%) of HMINPs. Without any additional post-treatment, our as-printed Al alloy exhibits an average room-temperature tensile strength of 582 MPa, combined with a tensile strength of 114 MPa and exceptional creep resistance at 400 °C. The partial solid-state amorphization of the HMINPs during tensile straining at 300-400 °C creates a nano-dual-phase glass-crystal structure, providing an additional toughening mechanism. This HMINP strategy and PBF-LB's freeform manufacturing capability enable large-scale industrial use of our high-performance Al alloy, holding great promise for advancing energy efficiency, carbon neutrality, and sustainable manufacturing.
Authors
- Guanghui Feng
- Y Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1282-5312)
- G LI
- Ming‐Xing Zhang
- Qiang Zhu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9650-8754)
- Wanqian Hu
- Fucong Lyu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8060-2372)
- Chunlu Zhao
- Shuo Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5411-7269)
- Xi He (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-8877-9179)
- Zhenmin Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-3670-664X)
- Junhua Luan
- Xinping Mao
- Xinggang Li
- Qiyang Tan
- Zhiqiang Li
- Lehua Qi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5657-3658)
- Yuhe Huang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2162-394X)
- Yuansong Zeng
- Jian Lu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5362-0316)
- Yanjin Xu
Institutions
- The University of Queensland (AU)
- City University of Hong Kong (HK)
- Northwestern Polytechnical University (CN)
- Southern University of Science and Technology (CN)
- City University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen Research Institute (CN)
- Advanced Technology & Materials (China) (CN)
- Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment (China) (CN)
- Shenyang Academy of Environmental Sciences (China) (CN)
- AviChina Industry & Technology (China) (CN)
- University of Science and Technology Beijing (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2026-04-15
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-71926-7
- Primary Topic
- Aluminum Alloys Composites Properties
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- City University of Hong Kong
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Guangdong Science and Technology Department
- Southern University of Science and Technology