Tensile Properties of Al-12Si Fabricated via Selective Laser Melting (SLM) at Different Temperatures

Effect of the Laser Processing Parameters on the Selective Laser Melting of TiC–Fe-Based Cermets

The influence of laser pulse shaping on the formation of TiC-Fe-based cermets with different laser process parameters is investigated. The impact of pulse shaping and laser melting peak power on the microstructural development and mechanical properties of SLM-built parts is addressed. This research focuses primarily on the process parameters required to produce crack-free components and includes investigations of mechanical properties such as microhardness and fracture toughness. To acquire optimal process parameters, samples were manufactured using pulse shaping technology with varying laser melting peak power and exposure time. The influence of laser melting peak power and pulse shape on microstructure development and phases was analyzed using a scanning electron microscope and X-ray diffraction.

Mechanical and Tribological Behavior of Gravity and Squeeze Cast Novel Al-Si Alloy

The automotive industry traditionally reduces weight primarily by value engineering and thickness optimization. However, both of these strategies have reached their limits. A 6% reduction in automotive truck mass results in a 13% improvement in freight mass. Aluminum alloys have lower weight, relatively high specific strength, and good corrosion resistance. Therefore, the present manuscript involves manufacturing Al-based alloy by squeeze casting. The effect of applied pressure during the squeeze cast and gravity cast of a novel Al-Si alloy on microstructural evolution, and mechanical and wear behavior was investigated. The results demonstrated that squeeze casting of the novel Al-Si alloy at high-pressure exhibits superior mechanical properties and enhanced wear resistance in comparison to the gravity die-cast (GDC) counterpart. Squeeze casting of this alloy, at high pressure, yields fine dendrites and reduced dendritic arm spacing, resulting in grain refinement. The finer dendrites and reduced dendritic arm spacing in high-pressure squeeze cast alloy than in the GDC alloy were due to enhanced cooling rates observed during the solidification process, as well as the applied squeeze pressure breaks the initial dendrites that started growing during the solidification process. Reduced casting defects in the high-pressure squeeze cast alloy led to a reduced coefficient of friction, resulting in improved wear resistance even at higher loads and higher operating temperatures. Our results demonstrated that squeeze casting of the novel Al-Si alloy at high-pressure exhibits a 47% increase in tensile strength, 33% increase in hardness, 10% reduction in coefficient of friction, and 15% reduction in wear loss compared to the GDC counterpart.

A Comparative Study on the Microstructures and Mechanical Properties of Al-10Si-0.5Mg Alloys Prepared under Different Conditions

Fabrication condition greatly influences the microstructures and properties of Al alloys. However, most of the available reports focus on a single fabrication technique, indicating there is still a lack of systematic comparisons among wider ranges of fabrication methods. In this paper, with conventional casting (via sand/Fe/Cu mold) and additive manufacturing (AM, via selective laser melting, SLM) methods, the effects of cooling rate (Ṫ) on the microstructures and mechanical properties of hypoeutectic Al-10Si-0.5Mg alloy are systematically investigated. The results show that with increasing cooling rate from sand-mold condition to SLM condition, the grain size (d) is continuously refined from ~3522 ± 668 μm to ~10 μm, and the grain morphology is gradually refined from coarse dendrites to a mixed grain structure composed of columnar plus fine grains (~10 μm). The eutectic Si particles are effectively refined from blocky shape under sand/Fe-mold conditions to needle-like under Cu-mold conditions, and finally to fine fibrous network under SLM condition. The tensile yield strength and elongation is greatly improved from 125 ± 5 MPa (sand-mold) to 262 ± 3 MPa (SLM) and from 0.8 ± 0.2% (sand-mold) to 4.0 ± 0.2% (SLM), respectively. The strengthening mechanism is discussed, which is mainly ascribed to the continuous refinement of grains and Si particles and an increase in super-saturation of Al matrix with increasing cooling rate.

A Review on Development of Bio-Inspired Implants Using 3D Printing

Biomimetics is an emerging field of science that adapts the working principles from nature to fine-tune the engineering design aspects to mimic biological structure and functions. The application mainly focuses on the development of medical implants for hard and soft tissue replacements. Additive manufacturing or 3D printing is an established processing norm with a superior resolution and control over process parameters than conventional methods and has allowed the incessant amalgamation of biomimetics into material manufacturing, thereby improving the adaptation of biomaterials and implants into the human body. The conventional manufacturing practices had design restrictions that prevented mimicking the natural architecture of human tissues into material manufacturing. However, with additive manufacturing, the material construction happens layer-by-layer over multiple axes simultaneously, thus enabling finer control over material placement, thereby overcoming the design challenge that prevented developing complex human architectures. This review substantiates the dexterity of additive manufacturing in utilizing biomimetics to 3D print ceramic, polymer, and metal implants with excellent resemblance to natural tissue. It also cites some clinical references of experimental and commercial approaches employing biomimetic 3D printing of implants.

Surface Quality of Metal Parts Produced by Laser Powder Bed Fusion: Ion Polishing in Gas-Discharge Plasma Proposal

Additive manufacturing has evolved over the past decades into a technology that provides freedom of design through the ability to produce complex-shaped solid structures, reducing the operational time and material volumes in manufacturing significantly. However, the surface of parts manufactured by the additive method remains now extremely rough. The current trend of expanding the industrial application of additive manufacturing is researching surface roughness and finishing. Moreover, the limited choice of materials suitable for additive manufacturing does not satisfy the diverse design requirements, necessitating additional coatings deposition. Requirements for surface treatment and coating deposition technology depend on the intended use of the parts, their material, and technology. In most cases, they cannot be determined based on existing knowledge and experience. It determines the scientific relevance of the analytical research and development of scientific and technological principles of finishing parts obtained by laser additive manufacturing and functional coating deposition. There is a scientific novelty of analytical research that proposes gas-discharge plasma processing for finishing laser additive manufactured parts and technological principles development including three processing stages—explosive ablation, polishing with a concentrated beam of fast neutral argon atoms, and coating deposition—for the first time.

Effect of Substrate Plate Heating on the Microstructure and Properties of Selective Laser Melted Al-20Si-5Fe-3Cu-1Mg Alloy

The Al-20Si-5Fe-3Cu-1Mg alloy was fabricated using selective laser melting (SLM). The microstructure and properties of the as-prepared SLM, post-treated SLM, and SLM with substrate plate heating are studied. The as-prepared SLM sample shows a non-uniform microstructure with four different phases: fcc-αAl, eutectic Al-Si, Al₂MgSi, and δ-Al₄FeSi₂. With thermal treatment, the phases become coarser and the δ-Al₄FeSi₂ phase transforms partially to β-Al₅FeSi. The sample produced with SLM substrate plate heating shows a relatively uniform microstructure without a distinct difference between hatch overlaps and track cores. Room temperature compression test results show that an as-prepared SLM sample reaches a maximum strength (862 MPa) compared to the heat-treated (524 MPa) and substrate plate heated samples (474 MPa) due to the presence of fine microstructure and the internal stresses. The reduction in strength of the sample produced with substrate plate heating is due to the coarsening of the microstructure, but the plastic deformation shows an improvement (20%). The present observations suggest that substrate plate heating can be effectively employed not only to minimize the internal stresses (by impacting the cooling rate of the process) but can also be used to modulate the mechanical properties in a controlled fashion.

Selective Laser Melting of Aluminum and Its Alloys

The laser-based powder bed fusion (LBPF) process or commonly known as selective laser melting (SLM) has made significant progress since its inception. Initially, conventional materials like 316L, Ti6Al4V, and IN-718 were fabricated using the SLM process. However, it was inevitable to explore the possible fabrication of the second most popular structural material after Fe-based alloys/steel, the Al-based alloys by SLM. Al-based alloys exhibit some inherent difficulties due to the following factors: the presence of surface oxide layer, solidification cracking during melt cooling, high reflectivity from the surface, high thermal conductivity of the metal, poor flowability of the powder, low melting temperature, etc. Researchers have overcome these difficulties to successfully fabricate the different Al-based alloys by SLM. However, there exists no review dealing with the fabrication of different Al-based alloys by SLM, their fabrication issues, microstructure, and their correlation with properties in detail. Hence, the present review attempts to introduce the SLM process followed by a detailed discussion about the processing parameters that form the core of the alloy development process. This is followed by the current research status on the processing of Al-based alloys and microstructure evaluation (including defects, internal stresses, etc.), which are dealt with on the basis of individual Al-based series. The mechanical properties of these alloys are discussed in detail followed by the other important properties like tribological properties, fatigue properties, etc. Lastly, an outlook is given at the end of this review.

Mechanical Properties of SLM-Printed Aluminium Alloys: A Review

Selective laser melting (SLM) is a powder bed fusion type metal additive manufacturing process which is being applied to manufacture highly customised and value-added parts in biomedical, defence, aerospace, and automotive industries. Aluminium alloy is one of the widely used metals in manufacturing parts in SLM in these sectors due to its light weight, high strength, and corrosion resistance properties. Parts used in such applications can be subjected to severe dynamic loadings and high temperature conditions in service. It is important to understand the mechanical response of such products produced by SLM under different loading and operating conditions. This paper presents a comprehensive review of the latest research carried out in understanding the mechanical properties of aluminium alloys processed by SLM under static, dynamic, different build orientations, and heat treatment conditions with the aim of identifying research gaps and future research directions.

Selective Laser Melting: Materials and Applications

Additive manufacturing (AM) is one of the emerging manufacturing techniques of immense engineering and scientific importance and is regarded as the technique of the future [...]

Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Al-(12-20)Si Bi-Material Fabricated by Selective Laser Melting

In this study, a combination of Al–12Si and Al–20Si (Al–(12-20)Si) alloys was fabricated by selective laser melting (SLM) as a result of increased component requirements such as geometrical complexity and high dimensional accuracy. The microstructure and mechanical properties of the SLM Al–(12-20)Si in as-produced as well as in heat-treated conditions were investigated. The Al–(12-20)Si interface was in the as-built condition and it gradually became blurry until it disappeared after heat treatment at 673 K for 6 h. This Al–(12-20)Si bi-material displayed excellent mechanical properties. The hardness of the Al–20Si alloy side was significantly higher than that of the Al–12Si alloy side and the disparity between both sides gradually decreased and tended to be consistent after heat treatment at 673 K for 6 h. The tensile strength and elongation of the Al–(12-20Si) bi-material lies in between the Al–12Si and Al–20Si alloys and fracture occurs in the Al–20Si side. The present results provide new insights into the fabrication of bi-materials using SLM.

Additive Manufacturing Processes: Selective Laser Melting, Electron Beam Melting and Binder Jetting-Selection Guidelines

Additive manufacturing (AM), also known as 3D printing or rapid prototyping, is gaining increasing attention due to its ability to produce parts with added functionality and increased complexities in geometrical design, on top of the fact that it is theoretically possible to produce any shape without limitations. However, most of the research on additive manufacturing techniques are focused on the development of materials/process parameters/products design with different additive manufacturing processes such as selective laser melting, electron beam melting, or binder jetting. However, we do not have any guidelines that discuss the selection of the most suitable additive manufacturing process, depending on the material to be processed, the complexity of the parts to be produced, or the design considerations. Considering the very fact that no reports deal with this process selection, the present manuscript aims to discuss the different selection criteria that are to be considered, in order to select the best AM process (binder jetting/selective laser melting/electron beam melting) for fabricating a specific component with a defined set of material properties.