Experimental investigation of effect of printing direction and surface roughness on the mechanical properties of AlSi10Mg-alloy produced by selective laser melting

Abstract

The additive manufacturing has initially gained popularity for production of non-loadbearing parts and components or in the fields where the material strength and ductility are less important such as modelling and rapid prototyping. But as the technology develops, availability of metal additive manufacturing naturally dictates the desire to use the produced components in load-bearing parts. This requires not-only a thorough documentation on the mechanical properties but also additional and independent research to learn the expected level of variation of the mechanical properties and what factors affect them. The presented paper investigates strength, ductility, hardness, and microstructure of the AlSi10Mg alloy produced by the selective laser melting (SLM). The mechanical properties were determined through a series of uniaxial tension tests and supplementary hardness tests and rationalized with the microstructure evolution with regard to printing direction and heat treatment. The paper also addresses the effect of surface roughness on the mechanical properties of the material, by comparing the machined and net shape tension samples. As expected, the as-manufactured AlSi10Mg-alloy appears to be a semi-brittle alloy, but its microstructure can be altered, and ductility increased by a proper heat-treatment. The effect of surface layer removal on the measured mechanical properties is of particular interest.