On June 28, the reporter learned that the research team of the University of Science and Technology of China reported its latest achievements in aluminum alloy 3D printing technology. 

After T6 heat treatment on aluminum alloy samples prepared by SLM process, researchers found the ductility of aluminum alloy Has been significantly improved. AlSi10Mg aluminum alloy samples are prepared by SLM process, followed by T6 heat treatment, which mainly includes solution treatment at 535oC and artificial aging treatment at 158oC (10 hours), and then the mechanical properties of the aluminum alloy samples are tested And microstructure observation and analysis.

Compared with steel or titanium alloys, aluminum alloys face three challenges in the preparation of SLM: (a) the high reflectivity of aluminum powder to the laser beam, (b) high heat conduction, and (c) the aluminum element is relatively active and extremely It is easy to form an oxide film on the surface. For example, the thermal conductivity of the AlSi10Mg casting used in this study reached 113W/mK. The main trouble caused by the high thermal conductivity is that the metal transforms from liquid to solid and cools very quickly, resulting in the solidification of the metal. The high residual stress causes internal cracks in the casting and seriously affects its service performance. Therefore, people have launched a lot of research on how to improve the elongation, hardness, tensile strength and fatigue strength of SLM process aluminum alloy. And it is found that the AlSi10Mg alloy prepared by SLM obviously exceeds other alloys in strength and hardness, but the ductility is relatively poor. Finally, the T6 heat treatment mentioned above can significantly increase the ductility of the AL alloy, thereby providing a process guide for the practical application of this type of aluminum alloy.

The test results show that the density of the aluminum alloy samples before and after heat treatment has little change, the tensile strength and bending strength are slightly reduced, the reduction is 19.97% (from 334MPa to 267.3MPa) and 6.1%, respectively, and the hardness is reduced by about 20 %. However, the ductility of aluminum alloy has been significantly improved, with elongation increased by 155% (from 3.64% to 9.28%), and fracture deflection increased by 122.9%, showing the better comprehensive mechanical properties of aluminum alloy. This will make 3D printed aluminum alloy parts have a wider range of application value. Figure 2 shows the micro morphology of the tensile section and the curved section of the test sample. This achievement enables 3D printing technology to provide more application opportunities in the preparation of aluminum alloys.

Link to this article： Achieve new breakthroughs in aluminum alloy 3D printing technology

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