Effect of Scan Strategies and Use of Support Structures on Surface Quality and Hardness of L-PBF AlSi10Mg Parts

Additive manufacturing allows for a great degree of design freedom and is rapidly becoming a mainstream manufacturing process. However, as in all manufacturing processes, it has its limitations and specificities. Equipping engineers with this knowledge allows for a higher degree of optimization, extracting the most out of this technology. Therefore, a specific part design was devised and created via L-PBF (Laser Powder Bed Fusion) using AlSi10Mg powder. Certain parameters were varied to identify the influence on material density, hardness, roughness, residual stress and microstructures. It was found that on heat treated parts laser pattern strategy is one of the most influential aspects, showing that chessboard and stripes 67° improved outcome; average Ra roughness varied between 8–12 µm, residual stress was higher on vertical surfaces than horizontal surfaces, with the combination of support structures and stripes 67° strategies generating the lowest residual stress (205 MPa on a lateral/vertical face), hardness was non-orientation dependent and larger on samples with chessboard fabrication strategies, while microstructures were composed of α–Al dendrites surrounded by Si particles. The distribution and grain size of the microstructure is dependent on location regarding melt pool and HAZ area. Furthermore, Al–Mg oxides were encountered on the surface, along with pores generating from lack of fusion.The authors would like to acknowledge the Hypermetal Additive Manufacturing for their contribution with some additive manufactured samples and materials, as well as ONA Electro-Erosión Lda. for the use of their electro erosion cutting equipment, used for the separation of certain samples from the build plate. The Authors also would like to thanks to Rui Rocha from CEMUP, due to his sharp critical analysis of SEM results and his help in achieving the best SEM pictures. A.B.P would like to acknowledge the projects UIDB/00481/2020 and UIDP/00481/2020—FCT—Fundação para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia; and CENTRO-01-0145-FEDER-022083—Centro Portugal Regional Operational Programme (Centro2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Laser Powder Bed Fusion of Inconel 718: Residual Stress Analysis Before and After Heat Treatment

Residual stresses (RS) of great magnitude are usually present in parts produced by Laser Powder Bed Fusion (PBF-LB), mainly owing to the extreme temperature gradients and high cooling rates involved in the process. Those “hidden” stresses can be detrimental to a part’s mechanical properties and fatigue life; therefore, it is crucial to know their magnitude and orientation. The hole-drilling strain-gage method was used to determine the RS magnitude and direction-depth profiles. Cuboid specimens in the as-built state, and after standard solution annealing and ageing heat treatment conditions, were prepared to study the RS evolution throughout the heat treatment stages. Measurements were performed on the top and lateral surfaces. In the as-built specimens, tensile stresses of ~400 MPa on the top and above 600 MPa on the lateral surface were obtained. On the lateral surface, RS anisotropy was noticed, with the horizontally aligned stresses being three times lower than the vertically aligned. RS decreased markedly after the first heat treatment. On heat-treated specimens, magnitude oscillations were observed. By microstructure analysis, the presence of carbides was verified, which is a probable root for the oscillations. Furthermore, compressive stresses immediate to the surface were obtained in heat-treated specimens, which is not in agreement with the typical characteristics of parts fabricated by PBF-LB, i.e., tensile stresses at the surface and compressive stresses in the part’s core.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Machining Duplex Stainless Steel: Comparative Study Regarding End Mill Coated Tools

The difficulties in the machining of duplex stainless steel are well known. However, research on this matter is rather limited. Suppliers offer quite different cutting tools for the same raw material, with end mills of two, three or even four knives and a huge number of distinct coatings, some of them under commercial brands, making it difficult to assess the advantages they offer. Furthermore, there is a remarkable difference among the several types of duplex stainless steel available nowadays on the market. The present work intends to assess the machining performance of different tools, analyzing the behavior and wear mechanisms with two different cutting lengths, keeping constant the machining trajectory. Some other parameters were also kept constant, such as cutting speed, depth of cut and cutting width, as well as feed per tooth. The machining process was carried out under lubricated conditions, using an emulsion of 5% oil in water. Tools provided with a different number of teeth and surface coatings were tested, analyzing the wear behavior of each cutting length using scanning electron microscopy, trying to identify wear performance and how each coating contributes to increased tool life. The surfaces produced were also analyzed by means of profilometry measurements, correlating tool wear and part surface roughness. This comparative study allows determining the advantages of different tools relative to others, based on coatings and tool geometry.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Effect of Scan Strategies and Use of Support Structures on Surface Quality and Hardness of L-PBF AlSi10Mg Parts

Additive manufacturing allows for a great degree of design freedom and is rapidly becoming a mainstream manufacturing process. However, as in all manufacturing processes, it has its limitations and specificities. Equipping engineers with this knowledge allows for a higher degree of optimization, extracting the most out of this technology. Therefore, a specific part design was devised and created via L-PBF (Laser Powder Bed Fusion) using AlSi10Mg powder. Certain parameters were varied to identify the influence on material density, hardness, roughness, residual stress and microstructures. It was found that on heat treated parts laser pattern strategy is one of the most influential aspects, showing that chessboard and stripes 67° improved outcome; average Ra roughness varied between 8–12 µm, residual stress was higher on vertical surfaces than horizontal surfaces, with the combination of support structures and stripes 67° strategies generating the lowest residual stress (205 MPa on a lateral/vertical face), hardness was non-orientation dependent and larger on samples with chessboard fabrication strategies, while microstructures were composed of α–Al dendrites surrounded by Si particles. The distribution and grain size of the microstructure is dependent on location regarding melt pool and HAZ area. Furthermore, Al–Mg oxides were encountered on the surface, along with pores generating from lack of fusion

Study of the Heat-Treatments Effect on High Strength Ductile Cast Iron Welded Joints

Nowadays, ultimate tensile strengths above 400 MPa become usual for ductile irons, thus allowing the implementation of new design paradigms. Large concentrations of carbon and other influencing elements can negatively interfere with the welding process of ductile cast irons. Efforts made by researchers have led to the discovery of solutions which enable good enough operational results to consider welding as a viable repairing or joining method. Although these alloys have been available for quite some time, researchers have mainly focused on issues relating to microstructural phenomena tied to casting and similar processes, leaving much to explore in terms of their weldability. Thus, this work intends to investigate the effect of different heat-treatments on the weldability of a high strength ductile cast iron by assessing the mechanical properties of welded joints as well as structural modifications induced by thermal cycles imposed before and after welding. Successful weld joints were achieved showing a clear heat affected zone (HAZ) close to the joint area. This area is coincident with the fracture area of the welded samples when loaded on a tensile test bench, having obtained promising results regarding mechanical strength and strain. The hardness of the welded zone was also carefully investigated, showing clear changes throughout the joint

Comparing the Structure and Mechanical Properties of Welds on Ductile Cast Iron (700 MPa) under Different Heat Treatment Conditions

The weldability of ductile iron, as widely known, is relatively poor, essentially due to its typical carbon equivalent value. The present study was developed surrounding the heat treatability of welded joints made with a high strength ductile cast iron detaining an ultimate tensile strength of 700 MPa, and aims to determine which heat treatment procedures promote the best results, in terms of microstructure and mechanical properties. These types of alloys are suitable for the automotive industry, as they allow engineers to reduce the thickness of parts while maintaining mechanical strength, decreasing the global weight of vehicles and providing a path for more sustainable development. The results allow us to conclude that heat treatment methodology has a large impact on the mechanical properties of welded joints created from the study material. However, the thermal cycles suffered during welding promote the formation of ledeburite areas near the weld joint. This situation could possibly be dealt through the implementation of post-welding heat treatments (PWHT) with specific parameters. In contrast to a ductile cast iron tested in a previous work, the bull-eye ductile cast iron with 700 MPa ultimate tensile strength presented better results during the post-welding heat treatment than during preheating