Scientists at the United States Department of Energy¡¯s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and Eck Industries announced last week that they have developed a new variety of aluminium alloys that are more resistant to heat and are easier to work with than current alloys. Such alloys have the potential to re-invigorate America¡¯s production of rare-earth elements, which are key to electronics and other modern and emerging technologies.

¡°We have these rare earths that we need for energy technologies,¡± said ORNL¡¯s Orlando Rios, ¡°but when you go to extract rare earths, the majority is cerium and lanthanum, which have limited large-volume uses.¡±

To address this problem, the research team has developed an aluminium-cerium alloy with a view to using it in applications in industries like automobile manufacturing.

¡°The aluminum industry is huge,¡± Rios explained. ¡°A lot of aluminum is used in the auto industry, so even a very small implementation into that market would use an enormous amount of cerium.¡±

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