Microstructure and mechanical property considerations in additive manufacturing of aluminum alloys
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ivation for additive manufacturing of aluminum alloys Aluminum alloys (AAs) are in great demand in many sectors, including the automotive, aerospace, and aircraft industries. With advances in additive manufacturing (AM) techniques, process time and cost of building Al-based components can be greatly reduced.1,2 Options for fabricating complex geometries as one piece have opened up. The main conceptual fields of applications where AM of AAs would be disruptive include: 1. Lightweighting—AM permits the fabrication of hollow or shell-type structures, or the use of lattice configurations for the design of lightweight components. Functional and ultralight parts can now be considered. Included in this concept is the replacement of castings with configurations that were previously unattainable, such as thinner construction than the minimum wall thickness technologically feasible through casting. 2. Components with conformal cooling channels—AAs are often used in applications where cooling is present or could be added to increase the service performance of the component. Included in this concept are thermal management
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designs, where increased control over heat dissipation can be obtained. High-cost AAs—AM is recognized to reduce the buy-tousage ratio (or the proportion of raw material wasted) when compared to conventional manufacturing. In that context, better management of high-cost alloys can be achieved.1,2
Despite these applications, technological challenges remain to be elucidated to reduce processing problems and metallurgical defects to allow fabrication of repeatable and reliable components. The aim of this article is to highlight the main challenges and the current state of this technology.
Challenges underpinning AM of AAs Before describing the current status of the technology, a few considerations underpinning AM of AAs must be discussed, as they can hinder the production of high-quality and high-density components. Solidification of the molten metal powder during selective laser melting (SLM) is comparable to solidification phenomena observed in the welding process (see the Introductory article in this issue). The inherent physical properties of AAs, such as surface oxide scale, high thermal conductivity, high
Y. Ding, Aluminum Research Centre–REGAL, Department of Mining and Materials Engineering, McGill University, Canada; [email protected] J.A. Muñiz-Lerma, Aluminum Research Centre–REGAL, Department of Mining and Materials Engineering, McGill University, Canada; [email protected] M. Trask, Aluminum Research Centre–REGAL, Department of Mining and Materials Engineering, McGill University, Canada; [email protected] S. Chou, Aluminum Research Centre–REGAL, Department of Mining and Materials Engineering, McGill University, Canada; [email protected] A. Walker, Aluminum Research Centre–REGAL, Department of Mining and Materials Engineering, McGill University, Canada; [email protected] M. Brochu, Department of Mining and Materials Engineering, McGill University, Canada;
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