Friction Extrusion: Solid-State Metal Synthesis and Recycling in Sustainable Manufacturing

Friction extrusion (FE) is a novel solid-state process for synthesis and recycling of metals and alloys. The novelty of FE is that it utilizes the frictional heating and extensive plastic deformation intrinsic in the process to stir, mechanically alloy, consolidate, and convert powders, chips, and other recyclable feedstock metals into a usable product form of highly engineered materials. FE represents a potentially transformational sustainable manufacturing technology. Being a solid-state process, it eliminates the energy-intensive melting and solidification steps, which are necessary in the conventional metal recycle and synthesis processes. Therefore, FE is a highly energy-efficient, practically zero-emission, and economically competitive process. In this work, the concept and configuration of FE are introduced, the energy-saving advantage of FE is analyzed, the feasibility of FE is demonstrated with synthesizing Al alloys, and the results of some metallographic and mechanical properties studies are presented. A prognosis of the friction extrusion technology is outlined.

Automated summary

Friction extrusion is a solid-state process that utilizes frictional heating and plastic deformation to synthesize and recycle metals and alloys into highly engineered materials. It is an energy-efficient, zero-emission, and economically competitive technology that eliminates the need for energy-intensive melting and solidification steps. This work introduces the concept and configuration of friction extrusion, analyzes its energy-saving advantage, demonstrates its feasibility with synthesizing Al alloys, and presents the results of metallographic and mechanical properties studies. The future prospects of friction extrusion technology are outlined.