EVALUATION OF HIGH-TEMPERATURE TENSILE PROPERTIES OF HEAT-TREATED ALSI10MG ALLOY PRODUCED BY LASER-BASED POWDER BED FUSION

The AlSi10Mg alloy is widely used to produce complex-shaped components by Laser-based Powder Bed Fusion (L-PBF); these parts, characterized by light structures and high specific strength, are currently employed in high-performance room temperature applications in the automotive and aerospace industries. However, it is important to increase the data concerning the high-temperature mechanical properties of the L-PBF AlSi10Mg alloy to spread its use. This study aims to fulfill the lack of knowledge by investigating the mechanical behavior at 200 °C, a representative condition of the average temperature of engine heads, of the L-PBF AlSi10Mg alloy subjected to a T5 heat treatment (artificial aging at 160 °C for 4 h) and an innovative T6 heat treatment (solubilization at 510 °C for 10 min and artificial aging at 160 °C for 6 h). The influence of high temperatures on the mechanical behavior of the L-PBF AlSi10Mg alloy was assessed by tensile tests, while microstructural and fractographic analyses were carried out to correlate the mechanical behavior of the alloy to its microstructure, and consequently explain the failure mechanisms. The ultrafine cellular microstructure, characterizing the T5 alloy, led to higher tensile strength than the homogeneous composite-like microstructure of the T6 alloy, which makes it very interesting for future application in the automotive and aerospace industries

Tensile behaviour of a hot work tool steel manufactured via Laser Powder Bed Fusion: effect of an innovative high pressure heat treatment

The combination of outstanding mechanical strength of tool steels and design freedom ensured by Additive Manufacturing (AM) processes is of a great interest for automotive applications. However, AM techniques produce peculiar defects, which affect the resulting mechanical behavior. For this reason, safety critical AM components are often subjected to hot isostatic pressing (HIP) to heal process defects. At the same time, tool steels require a proper quenching and tempering (QT) heat treatment to achieve high hardness and strength. In the present work, the effect of an innovative high pressure heat treatment (HPHT) on the tensile properties of a hot work tool steel produced via Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) was investigated. LPBF samples were subjected to two post-process heat treatments: a conventional quenching and tempering heat treatment performed in vacuum (CHT), and an innovative HPHT combining HIP e QT in a single step, to heal LPBF defects and obtain high mechanical properties. HPHT featured the same quenching and tempering cycle of CHT but it was performed under high pressure in a HIP furnace and with longer austenitizing time to promote defect closure. Tensile tests indicated no significant effect on proof and tensile strength for HPHT compared to CHT, but a significant reduction of elongation after fracture. Fractographic analyses and fracture mechanics calculations indicated that both CHT and HPHT specimens failed via crack propagation from large LPBF defects when the stress intensity factor reached the material fracture toughness. Fractographic analyses indicated an incomplete defect closure during HPHT due to the presence of an oxide film on the inner surface of defects, thus justifying the same failure mechanism and strength of CHT samples. Instead, it was proposed that the reduced elongation could arise from coarsened grains due to the longer austenitizing

High‐Temperature Behavior of the Heat‐Treated and Overaged AlSi10Mg Alloy Produced by Laser‐Based Powder Bed Fusion and Comparison with Conventional Al–Si–Mg‐Casting Alloys

In recent years, the AlSi10Mg alloy produced by laser-based powder bed fusion (L-PBF) has gained more attention for increasing the strength-to-weight ratio in structural parts subjected to severe operating conditions. Herein, the effects of thermal exposure (0–48 h at 200, 210, and 245 °C) on the metastable microstructure of the L-PBF AlSi10Mg alloy and the high-temperature (200 °C) tensile properties post-overaging (41 h at 210 °C) of the heat-treated alloy is investigated. In particular, two specific heat treatment conditions, currently neglected in the literature, are analyzed: i) T5 heat treatment (direct artificial aging: 4 h at 160 °C), and ii) the innovative T6R heat treatment (rapid solution: 10 min at 510 °C, and artificial aging: 6 h at 160 °C). The T5 shows a lower decrease in mechanical properties after thermal exposure and during the high-temperature tensile test than the T6R. This behavior is related to the higher efficiency of the submicrometric cellular structure in hindering the dislocation motion. In addition, the T5 has good tensile properties compared to high-temperature Al–Si–Mg- and Al–Si–Cu–Mg-casting alloys, representing an attractive option in future industrial applications characterized by operating temperatures up to 200 °C

Room- and High-Temperature Fatigue Strength of the T5 and Rapid T6 Heat-Treated AlSi10Mg Alloy Produced by Laser-Based Powder Bed Fusion

The AlSi10Mg alloy produced by laser-based powder bed fusion (L-PBF) is widely used to produce high-value-added structural parts subjected to cyclic mechanical loads at high temperatures. The paper aims to widen the knowledge of the room- and high-temperature (200 ◦C) fatigue behavior of the L-PBF AlSi10Mg alloy by analyzing the fully reversed rotating bending test results on mechanically polished specimens. Two heat-treated conditions are analyzed: T5 (direct artificial aging: 4 h at 160 ◦C) and novel T6R (rapid solution: 10 min at 510 ◦C, artificial aging: 6 h at 160 ◦C). The study highlights that (i) the T6R alloy is characterized by higher fatigue strength at room (108 MPa) and high temperatures (92 MPa) than the T5 alloy (92 and 78 MPa, respectively); (ii) thermal exposure at 200 ◦C up to 17 h does not introduce macroscopical microstructural variation; (iii) fracture surfaces of the room- and high-temperature-tested specimens show comparable crack initiation, mostly from sub-superficial gas and keyhole pores, and failure propagation mechanisms. In conclusion, the L-PBF AlSi10Mg alloy offers good cyclic mechanical performances under various operating conditions, especially for the T6R alloy, and could be considered for structural components operating at temperatures up to 200 °

Optimisation of heat treatment of Al–Cu–(Mg–Ag) cast alloys

n/

Effect of Scanning Strategy in the L-PBF Process of 18Ni300 Maraging Steel

Maraging steels are good candidates for the laser powder bed fusion process (L-PBF), also known as Selective Laser Melting, due to excellent weldability and resistance to quench cracking. Powders physical and chemical characteristics dominate the final microstructure and properties of the printed parts, that are also heavily influenced by the process parameters. In this study, the effects of the scanning strategies on dimensions, average surface roughness, density and material hardness were evaluated, keeping the powder type and the volumetric energy density (Andrew number) constant. The effects of the scanning strategy on these properties are far less understood than on other important ones, like residual stresses and distortion, strongly affected by the scanning strategy. In this study, parallel stripes, chessboard and hexagonal pattern strategies were studied, keeping the Andrew number constant but varying the interlayer rotation. In general, the hexagonal strategy underperformed compared to the chessboard and the stripes ones

Aging Behaviour of a 12.2Cr-10Ni-1Mo-1Ti-0.6Al Precipitation-Hardening Stainless Steel Manufactured via Laser Powder Bed Fusion

The combination of precipitation-hardening stainless steels (PH-SS) and laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) enables the manufacturing of tools for plastic injection moulding with optimised geometry and conformal cooling channels, with potential benefits in terms of productivity, part quality, and tool duration. Moreover, the suitability of LPBF-manufactured PH-SS in the as-built (AB) condition to be age-hardened through a direct aging (DA) treatment enables a great heat treatment simplification with respect to the traditional solution annealing and aging treatment (SA). However, plastic injection moulding tools experience severe thermal cycles during their service, which can lead to over-aging of PH-SS and thus shorten tool life. Therefore, proper thermal stability is required to ensure adequate tool life and reliability. The aim of the present work is to investigate the aging and over-aging behaviour of a commercially available PH-SS (AMPO M789) manufactured by LPBF in the AB condition and after a solution-annealing treatment in order to evaluate the effect of the heat treatment condition on the microstructure and the aging and over-aging response, aiming at assessing its feasibility for plastic injection moulding applications. The AB microstructure features melt pool borders, oriented martensite grains, and a cellular solidification sub-structure, and was retained during aging and over-aging. On the other hand, a homogeneous and isotropic martensite structure was present after solution annealing and quenching, with no melt pool borders, cellular structure, or oriented grains. The results indicate no significant difference between AB and solution-annealed and quenched specimens in terms of aging and over-aging behaviour and peak hardness (in the range 580–600 HV), despite the considerably different microstructures. Over-aging was attributed to both the coarsening of strengthening precipitates and martensite-to-austenite reversion (up to ~11 vol.%) upon prolonged exposure to high temperature. Based on the results, guidelines to aid the selection of the most suitable heat treatment procedure are proposed