  Recycled aluminum alloys are pivotal for sustainable manufacturing, offering
strength, durability, and environmental advantages. However, the presence of
iron (Fe) impurities poses a major challenge, undermining their properties and
recyclability. Conventional manufacturing processes result in coarse Fe-rich
intermetallic compounds that limit the tolerance of Fe content and negatively
influence performance of advanced aluminum alloys. To address this, rapid
solidification techniques like direct strip casting have been explored. In this
work, a detailed study of the strip cast microstructure was conducted by
scanning electron microscopy, electron backscattered diffraction and atom probe
tomography. Our results reveal that alloys produced by DSC exhibit
significantly refined microstructures and are free from coarse Fe-rich
intermetallics, thereby retaining the majority of Fe in solid solution. These
findings indicate that strip casting significantly enhances Fe-tolerance in
aluminum alloys, making it an attractive process for future aluminum recycling,
with implications for sustainable high-performance applications.
