Selective laser melted AZ91D magnesium alloy with superior balance of strength and ductility

In the context of global carbon neutrality, the application of lightweight magnesium alloys is becoming increasingly attractive. In this study, selective laser melting(SLM) was employed to achieve nearly full dense and crack-free AZ91D components with fine equiaxed grain structure. The formation mechanism of typical pore defects(gas pore, lack-of-fusion pore and keyhole pore) and melting modes(keyhole mode and conduction mode) were systematically studied by varying the laser power and scanning speed. The morphology and volume fraction of the pores under different processing conditions were characterized. A criterion based on the depth-to-width ratio of the melt pool was established to identify different melting modes. The strength and ductility(tensile strength up to 340 MPa and uniform elongation of 8.9%)of the as deposited AZ91D are far superior to those of the casting components and are comparable to those of its wrought counterparts.The superior balance of strength and ductility of SLMed AZ91D, as well as the negligible anisotropic properties are mainly ascribed to the extremely fine equiaxed grain structure(with average grain size of ~1.2 μm), as well as the discontinuous distribution of β-Al_(12)Mg_(17) phases. It thus provides an alternative way to fabricate high-strength magnesium alloys with complex geometry.

Effect of Trace Addition of Ceramic on Microstructure Development and Mechanical Properties of Selective Laser Melted AlSi10Mg Alloy

Selective laser melting(SLM)is an emerging additive manufacturing technology for fabricating aluminum alloys and aluminum matrix composites.Nevertheless,it remains unclear how to improve the properties of laser manufactured aluminum alloy by adding ceramic reinforcing particles.Here the effect of trace addition of TiB2 ceramic(1%weight fraction)on microstructural and mechanical properties of SLM-produced AlSi10Mg composite parts was investigated.The densification level increased with increasing laser power and decreasing scan speed.A near fully dense composite part(99.37%)with smooth surface morphology and elevated inter-layer bonding was successfully obtained.A decrease of lattice plane distance was identified by X-ray diffraction with the laser scan speed decreased,which implied that the crystal lattices were distorted due to the dissolution of Si and TiB2 particles.A homogeneous composite microstructure with the distribution of surface-smoothened TiB2 particles was present,and a small amount of Si particles precipitated at the interface between reinforcing particles and matrix.In contrast to the AlSi10Mg alloy,the composites showed a stabilized microhardness distribution.A higher ultimate tensile strength of 380.0 MPa,yield strength of 250.4 MPa and elongation of 3.43%were obtained even with a trace amount of ceramic addition.The improvement of tensile properties can be attributed to multiple mechanisms including solid solution strengthening,load-bearing strengthening and dispersion strengthening.This research provides a theoretical basis for ceramic reinforced aluminum matrix composites by additive manufacturing.

High-strength friction stir welding of selective laser melted AlSi10Mg alloys

Selective laser melted AlSi10Mg alloys with eutectic network structures were successfully joined by friction stir welding.Sound butt-lap joints have been achieved.A novel enlarged pin was designed to overcome kissing bonding defects and increase interfacial bonding area.The hook defect in a conventional butt-lap joint was avoided due to the limitation of the upward flow of interfacial materials,and the interfacial joining width was 2.5 times of the plate thickness.The eutectic Si network structure was broken into the re-dispersed rich-Si phases,improving joint performance.The ultimate tensile strength reached 83.1%of the matrix,higher than those of conventional melting techniques.

Serrated chip characteristics and formation mechanism in high-speed machining of selective laser melted Ti6Al4V alloys

Serrated chips,consisting of extremely uneven plastic deformation,are a prominent feature of high-speed machining of difficultto-machine materials.This paper focuses on the evolution of chip form,chip morphology features(chip free surface,tool-chip contact surface,and chip edge),and chip segment parameters in subsequent high-speed(vc=50 and 150 m min-1)machining of selective laser melted(SLMed)Ti6Al4V alloys,which are significantly different from conventional Ti6Al4V alloy in microstructure,mechanical properties and machinability.The effect of laser beam scanning schemes(0°,67.5°,and 90°),machined surfaces(top and front),and cutting speeds on serrated chip characteristics of SLMed Ti6Al4Valloys was investigated.Based on the Johnson-Cook constitutive model of SLMed Ti6Al4Valloys,an orthogonal cutting model was developed to better understand the effect of physical-mechanical properties on the shear localization,which dominates the formation mechanism of serrated chips in post-machining of SLMed Ti6Al4V alloy.The results showed that the critical cutting speed(CCS)for chip serration of SLMed Ti6Al4V alloy is lower than that for serrated chips of conventional Ti6Al4V alloy,and the serrated profile of SLMed Ti6Al4V chips was more regular and pronounced.Besides,due to anisotropic microstructure and mechanical properties of SLMed Ti6Al4Valloys,the serration degree of chips produced on the top surfaces of SLMed Ti6Al4Valloys is more prominent than that of chips generated on the front surfaces.In addition,because of the poor deformation coordination and high plastic flow stresses of needle-like martensiteα′,the plastic flow and grain distortion in the adiabatic shear band(ASB)of SLMed Ti6Al4V chips are significantly smaller than those in the ASB of conventional Ti6Al4V with equiaxed grains.

Effects of direct aging treatment on microstructure,mechanical properties and residual stress of selective laser melted AlSi10Mg alloy

Direct aging treatment is an important post-processing procedure,yet little research has been done on how it balances the mechanical properties and the stress removal for selective laser melted(SLMed)AlSi10Mg alloys.Here,we proposed a typical direct aging treatment on SLMed AlSi10Mg alloys,and studied the effects on their microstructure,properties and residual stress evolution.The results indi-cate that the as-built microstructure is mainly composed of fine cellularα-Al and reticulated Si phases,and some pre-existing precipitates and dislocations are found in these cells.The direct aging treatment promotes the precipitation of nano-scaled Si phases and preserves a network-like Si structure.Therefore,the strength of the peak-aged alloy increases while the ductility decreases.As the aging temperature in-creases from 160 to 200℃,aging hardening behavior was accelerated significantly.Aging at 160℃ for 4-9 h removes 32.0%-43.0%of the residual stress,which is attributed to the decomposition of the su-persaturatedα-Al matrix,the precipitation of the nano-Si phase and the exposure of low-angle grain boundaries(LAGBs).Considering the overal alloy performance obtained,over-aging at 160℃ for 4 h is the optimized heat treatment regime.Under this condition,the yield strength(YS),ultimate tensile strength(UTS)and elongation(EL)of the alloy in the transverse and longitudinal direction are 309.5 MPa,464.4 MPa and 8.3%and 286.4 MPa,464.9 MPa and 5.1%,respectively.

Mechanical Anisotropy of Selective Laser Melted Ti-6Al-4V Using a Reduced-order Crystal Plasticity Finite Element Model

In this study,a reduced-order crystal plasticity finite element(CPFE)model was developed to study the effects of the microstructural morphology and crystallographic texture on the mechanical anisotropy of selective laser melted(SLMed)Ti-6Al-4V.First,both hierarchical and equiaxed microstructures in columnar prior grains were modeled to examine the influence of the microstructural morphology on mechanical anisotropy.Second,the effects of crystallographic anisotropy and textural variability on mechanical anisotropy were investigated at the granular and representative volume element(RVE)scales,respectively.The results show that hierarchical and equiaxed CPFE models with the same crystallographic texture exhibit the same mechanical anisotropy.At the granular scale,the significance of crystallographic anisotropy varies with different crystal orientations.This indicates that the present SLMed Ti-6Al-4V sample with weak mechanical anisotropy resulted from the synthetic effect of crystallographic anisotropies at the granular scale.Therefore,combinations of various crystallographic textures were applied to the reduced-order CPFE model to design SLMed Ti-6Al-4V with different mechanical anisotropies.Thus,the crystallographic texture is considered the main controlling variable for the mechanical anisotropy of SLMed Ti-6Al-4V in this study.

Formation process and mechanical properties in selective laser melted multi-principal-element alloys

Additive manufacturing is believed to open up a new era in precise microfabrication,and the dynamic microstructure evolution during the process as well as the experiment-simulation correlated study is conducted on a prototype multi-principal-element alloys FeCrNi fabricated using selective laser melting(SLM).Experimental results reveal that columnar crystals grow across the cladding layers and the dense cellular structures develop in the filled crystal.At the micron scale,all constituent elements are evenly distributed,while at the near-atomic scale,Cr element is obviously segregated.Simulation results at the atomic scale illustrate that i)the solid-liquid interface during the grain growth changes from horizontal to arc due to the radial temperature gradient;ii)the precipitates,microscale voids,and stacking faults also form dynamically as a result of the thermal gradient,leading to the residual stress in the SLMed structure.In addition,we established a microstructure-based physical model based on atomic simulation,which indicates that strong interface strengthening exists in the tensile deformation.The present work provides an atomic-scale understanding of the microstructural evolution in the SLM process through the combination of experiment and simulation.

Electrochemical Corrosion Behavior and Mechanical Response of Selective Laser Melted Porous Metallic Biomaterials

The porous metallic biomaterials have attracted significant attention for implants because their lower young's modulus matches the human bones, which can eliminate the stress shielding effect and facilitate the growth of bone tissue cells. The porous metallic biomaterials fabricated by selective laser melting (SLM) have broad prospects, but the surface of the SLM-built porous structure has been severely adhered with unmelted powders, which affects the forming accuracy and surface quality. The porous metallic biomaterials face the corrosion problem of complex body fluid environments during service, so their corrosion resistance in the human body is extremely important. The surface quality will affect the corrosion resistance of the porous metallic biomaterials. Therefore, it is necessary to study the effect of post-treatment on the corrosion resistance of SLMed samples. In this work, the mechanical response and the electrochemical corrosion behavior in simulated body fluid of diamond and pentamode metamaterials Ti-6Al-4V alloy fabricated by SLM before and after sandblasting were studied. After sandblasting, the mechanical properties of the two porous metallic biomaterials were slightly improved, and the self-corrosion potential and pitting potential were more negative;meanwhile, the self-corrosion current density and passive current density increased, indicating that its corrosion performance decreased, and the passive film stability of sandblasted samples got worse.

Homogenization on solution treatment and its effects on the precipitation-hardening of selective laser melted 17-4PH stainless steel

17-4 precipitation-hardened(PH)stainless steel(SS)exhibits high strength and good corrosion resistance via Cu-precipitation hardening.Unlike conventional wrought 17-4PH SS,Cu segregation andε-Cu pre-cipitates are observed in additively manufactured(AM)17-4PH SS owing to the repeated rapid cooling after heating,which characterizes the AM process.In this study,solution treatment was conducted under various temperatures(1,000,1,050,1,100,and 1,200℃)and durations(1,2,4,and 8 h)to minimize the negative effects of Cu segregation andε-Cu precipitates on precipitation hardening.The mechanical prop-erties and microstructures of each condition for the Cu precipitation behavior were examined.Although theε-Cu precipitates did not disappear after solution treatment,the average diameter of theε-Cu precipi-tates tended to decrease with increasing solution treatment temperature and duration.Therefore,solution treatment at a temperature of 1,200℃ for 8 h was the best,resulting in improved strength compared to the conventional solution treatment at 1,050℃.Solution treatment on at least 1,100℃ is effective in AM.

Interplay of laser power and pore characteristics in selective laser melting of ZK60 magnesium alloys:A study based on in-situ monitoring and image analysis

This study offers significant insights into the multi-physics phenomena of the SLM process and the subsequent porosity characteristics of ZK60 Magnesium(Mg)alloys.High-speed in-situ monitoring was employed to visualise process signals in real-time,elucidating the dynamics of melt pools and vapour plumes under varying laser power conditions specifically between 40 W and 60 W.Detailed morphological analysis was performed using Scanning-Electron Microscopy(SEM),demonstrating a critical correlation between laser power and pore formation.Lower laser power led to increased pore coverage,whereas a denser structure was observed at higher laser power.This laser power influence on porosity was further confirmed via Optical Microscopy(OM)conducted on both top and cross-sectional surfaces of the samples.An increase in laser power resulted in a decrease in pore coverage and pore size,potentially leading to a denser printed part of Mg alloy.X-ray Computed Tomography(XCT)augmented these findings by providing a 3D volumetric representation of the sample internal structure,revealing an inverse relationship between laser power and overall pore volume.Lower laser power appeared to favour the formation of interconnected pores,while a reduction in interconnected pores and an increase in isolated pores were observed at higher power.The interplay between melt pool size,vapour plume effects,and laser power was found to significantly influence the resulting porosity,indicating a need for effective management of these factors to optimise the SLM process of Mg alloys.

Selective Laser Melting of Novel SiC and TiC Strengthen 7075 Aluminum Powders for Anti-Cracks Application

The aerospace and military sectors have widely used AA7075, a type of 7075 aluminum alloy, due to its exceptional mechanical performance. Selective laser melting (SLM) is a highly effective method for producing intricate metallic components, particularly in the case of aluminum alloys like Al-Si-Mg. Nevertheless, the production of high-strength AA7075 by SLM is challenging because of its susceptibility to heat cracking and elemental vaporization. In this study, AA7075 powders were mechanically mixed with SiC and TiC particles. Subsequently, this new type of AA7075 powder was effectively utilized in green laser printing to create solid components with fine-grain strengthening microstructures consisting of equiaxial grains. These as-printed parts exhibit a tensile strength of up to 350 MPa and a ductility exceeding 2.1%. Hardness also increases with the increasing content of mixed powder, highlighting the essential role of SiC and TiC in SLM for improved hardness and tensile strength performance. .

Microstructure, tensile properties and mechanical anisotropy of selective laser melted 304L stainless steel

The microstructure and mechanical properties of 304 L stainless steel fabricated by selective laser melting are investigated in this study.With the optimized laser processing parameters,a relative density of 99.9%is achieved with fine austenite grains and nanoscale cellular subgrains in size of approximately 0.5μm.The presence ofδ-ferrite andσphase precipitates is identified by the x-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy.Moreover,the microstructure is identified as an austenite matrix with about 4%δ-ferrite and a trace amount ofσphase by using electron backscattered diffraction analysis.These smallσphase particles are mainly distributed along austenite grain boundaries.Furthermore,the presence of nanoscale cellular subgrains contributes to the good tensile strength and ductility of the selective laser melted 304 L,along with precipitate strengthening and strain hardening.Tensile property anisotropy is also identified in this 304 L,which is attributed to the microstructure difference on vertical and horizontal planes.

Microstructure, porosity and mechanical properties of selective laser melted AlSi10Mg

Finite element modeling(FEM),microscopy,X-ray computed tomography(CT)and mechanical property tests were used to study the microstructure,porosity and mechanical properties of an AlSi10Mg alloy produced by selective laser melting(SLM).The simulation of the melt pool and thermal history under different energy densities produced an optimized result with an energy density of 44.5 J·mm-3.The high cooling rate during the SLM process significantly refined the previous a-Al dendrites.The growth direction of the network-like Al-Si eutectic structure at different orientations confirmed the anisotropic nature of the microstructure.Furthermore,the microhardness,tensile testing and fracture analysis results proved that there were no obvious distinctions in the strength between the transverse and longitudinal directions,and that the ductility was anisotropic,possibly due to the shape and distribution of the pores.The pores measured by X-ray CT at different energy densities confirmed that the sphericity of the pores was inversely related to pores volumes.With optimized processing conditions,the porosity of the selective laser melted sample decreased leading to the improved fabricated fuel system component via SLM.

Specific heat treatment of selective laser melted Ti-6AI-4V for biomedical applications

The ductility of as-fabricated Ti-6AI-4V fails far short of the requirements for biomedical titanium alloy implants and the heat treatment remains the only applicable option for improvement of their mechanical properties. In the present study, the decomposition of as-fabricated martensite was investigated to provide a general understanding on the kinetics of its phase transformation. The decomposition of as- fabricated martensite was found to be slower than that of water-quenched martensite. It indicates that specific heat treatment strategy is needed to be explored for as.fabricated Ti-6AI-4V. Three strategies of heat treatment were proposed based on different phase transformation mechanisms and classified as subtransus treatment, supersolvus treatment and mixed treatment. These specific heat treatments were conducted on selective laser melted samples to investigate the evolutions of microstructure and mechanical properties. The subtransus treatment leaded to a basket-weave structure without changing the morphology of columnar prior β grains. The supersolvus treatment resulted in a lamellar structure and equiaxed β grains. The mixed treatment yielded a microstructure that combines both features of the subtransus treatment and supersolvus treatment. The subtransus treatment is found to be the best choice among these three strategies for as.fabricated Ti-6AI-4V to be used as biomedical implants.

Microstructural homogeneity and mechanical behavior of a selective laser melted Ti-35Nb alloy produced from an elemental powder mixture

Although using elemental powder mixtures may provide broad alloy selection at low cost for selective laser melting(SLM), there is still a concern on the resultant microstructural and chemical homogeneity of the produced parts. Hence, this work investigates the microstructure and mechanical properties of a SLM-produced Ti-35 Nb composite(in wt%) using elemental powder. The microstructural characteristics including ? phase, undissolved Nb particles and chemical homogeneity were detailed investigated.Nanoindentation revealed the presence of relatively soft undissolved Nb particles and weak interface bonding around Nb-rich regions in as-SLMed samples. Solid-solution treatment can not only improve chemical homogeneity but also enhance bonding through grain boundary strengthening, resulting in43 % increase in tensile elongation for the heat-treated Ti-35 Nb compared to the as-SLMed counterpart. The analyses of tensile fractures and shear bands further confirmed the correlation between the different phases and the ductility of Ti-35 Nb. In particular, the weak bonding between undissolved Nb and the matrix in the as-SLMed sample reduces its ductility while the ? grains in solid-solution treated Ti-Nb alloy can induce a relatively stable plastic flow therefore better ductility. This work sheds insight into the understanding of homogenization of microstructure and phases of SLM-produced alloys from an elemental powder mixture.

Microstructure evolution and mechanical properties at high temperature of selective laser melted AlSi10Mg

In this study,the microstructure and tensile properties of selective laser melted AlSilOMg at elevated temperature were investigated with focus on the interfacial region.In-situ SEM and in-situ EBSD analysis were proposed to characterize the microstructural evolution with temperature.The as-fabricated AlSilOMg sample presents high tensile strength with the ultimate tensile strength(UTS)of~450 MPa and yield strength(YS)of~300 MPa,which results from the mixed strengthening mechanism among grain boundary,solid solution,dislocation and Orowan looping mechanism.When holding at the temperature below 200℃for 30 min,the micro structure presents little change,and only a slight decrement of yield strength appears due to the relief of the residual stress.However,when the holding temperature further increases to 300℃and 400℃,the coarsening and precipitation of Si particles inα-Al matrix occur obviously,which leads to an obvious decrease of solid solution strength.At the same time,matrix softening and the weakness of dislocation strengthening also play important roles.When the holding temperature reaches to 400℃,the yield strength decreases significantly to about 25 MPa which is very similar to the as-cast Al alloy.This might be concluded that the YS is dominated by the matrix materials.Because the softening mechanism counteracts work hardening,the extremely high elongation occurs.

Effect of process parameters on the density and porosity of laser melted AlSi10Mg/SiC metal matrix composite

Laser melting of aluminium alloy-AlSi10Mg has increasingly been used to create specialised products in various industrial applications, however, research on utilising laser melting of aluminium matrix composites in replacing specialised parts have been slow on the uptake. This has been attributed to the complexity of the laser melting process, metal/ceramic feedstock for the process and the reaction of the feedstock material to the laser. Thus, an understanding of the process, material microstructure and mechanical properties is important for its adoption as a manufacturing route of aluminium metal matrix composites. The effects of several parameters of the laser melting process on the mechanical blended composite were thus investigated in this research. This included single track formations of the matrix alloy and the composite alloyed with 5% and 10% respectively for their reaction to laser melting and the fabrication of density blocks to investigate the relative density and porosity over different scan speeds. The results from these experiments were utilised in determining a process window in fabricating near-fully dense parts.

Subsurface Defect Evaluation of Selective-Laser-Melted Inconel 738LC Alloy Using Eddy Current Testing for Additive/Subtractive Hybrid Manufacturing

New materials and manufacturing technologies require applicable non-destructive techniques for quality assurance so as to achieve better performance.This study comprehensively investigated the effect of influencing factors includ-ing excitation frequency,lift-off distance,defect depth and size,residual heat,and surface roughness on the defect EC signals of an Inconel 738LC alloy produced by selective laser melting(SLM).The experimental investigations recorded the impedance amplitude and phase angle of EC signals for each defect to explore the feasibility of detecting sub-surface defects by merely analyzing these two key indicators.Overall,this study revealed preliminary qualitative and roughly quantitative relationships between influencing factors and corresponding EC signals,which provided a prac-tical reference on how to quantitively inspect subsurface defects using eddy current testing(ECT)on SLMed parts,and also made solid progress toward on-line ECT in additive/subtractive hybrid manufacturing(ASHM)for fabricating SLMed parts with enhanced quality and better performance.

Formation of defects in selective laser melted Inconel 718 and its correlation with mechanical properties through dimensionless numbers

This paper presents a profound study on the formation of three typical types of defects(i.e.,lack of fusion,keyholes,and gas pores)observed in selective laser melting(SLM)printed Inconel 718 samples,along with their correlations with mechanical properties of the samples.Computed tomography,scanning electron microscopy,and mechanical property tests revealed that the three types of defects fall into three stages of porosity evolution classified by recently-proposed dimensionless numbersηm(melting efficiency)andηv(vaporization efficiency).Meanwhile,experimental tests verified that the mechanical properties of products,such as strength and elongation,are remarkably sensitive to lack of fusion.However,these properties are slightly affected by the keyholes and gas pores.An optimal process window characterized by dimensionless numbers is realized by adjusting the processing parameters and employing different powders.This process window allows products to have relatively low defects and high mechanical performances.A quantitative relation between processing parameters,dimensionless numbers,defects,and mechanical properties is established based on these observations.This relation,along with the optimal process window,is believed to enhance the quality of SLM products of Inconel 718 alloy and can be further extended to SLM with other metal materials.

Achieving superior mechanical properties of selective laser melted AlSi10Mg via direct aging treatment

For additive manufactured aluminum alloys,the inferior mechanical properties along the building direction have been a serious weakness.In this study,an optimized heat treatment was developed as a simple and effective solution.The effects of direct aging on microstructure and mechanical properties along the building direction of AlSi10Mg samples produced via selective laser melting(SLM)were investigated.The results showed that,compared with the conventional heat treatment at elevated temperatures,direct aging at temperatures of 130-190℃ could retain the fine grain microstructure of SLM samples and promote further precipitation of Si phase,however,the growth of pores occurred during direct aging.With increasing aging temperature,while finer cell structures were obtained,more and larger pores were developed,resulting in decreased density of the samples.Two types of pore formation mechanisms were identified.Considering the balance between the refinement of cell structure and the growth of pores,aging at 130℃ was determined as the optimized heat treatment for SLM AlSi10Mg samples.The tensile strength along the building direction of the 130℃ aged sample was increased from 403 MPa to 451 MPa,with relatively high elongation of 6.5%.