EVALUATION OF METALLURGICAL AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF AlSi10Mg PRODUCED BY SELECTIVE LASER MELTING

Selective laser melting (SLM) additive manufacturing (AM) of metal powders has long been a focus in the study of AM due to the possibility of weight reduction, complex shape formation, and production cost savings. Although applicable to a variety of metals SLM AM of the AlSi10Mg alloy was studied in an attempt to characterize the effect of processing parameter and build angle variation on the final microstructural, fractographic, and mechanical properties of parts produced without any thermal post-processing techniques. Research was conducted on five build angles (0°, 30°, 45°, 60°, and 90°), and three Global Energy Densities (GED) (37.15, 45.39, and 49.93) [J/mm3] achieved through variations of hatch spacing, scan speed, and laser power. Sample characterization included tensile testing, fatigue testing, metallography, and fractography allowing for correlation between processing parameters, build angle, and mechanical properties. Results indicate that mechanical properties of SLM AM AlSi10Mg can be manipulated through processing parameter variation. Tensile properties of the SLM AM AlSi10Mg samples were comparable or better than that of accepted values for Al 6061-T6, but fatigue properties remained inadequate. Evaluation of collected data indicates that fatigue behavior is improvable and a viable replacement for Al 6061-T6 may be possible without utilization of any thermal post processing