Investigation of the transition heat treatment temperature of AlSi10Mg manufactured by selective laser melting and the effect on the compressive strength

• Published in: Materials today : proceedings Vol. 70; pp. 45 - 49
• Main Authors: Lim, Chong Heng, Li, Hua, Krishnan, Manickavasagam, Chen, Kewei, Li, Junru
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 2022
• Subjects: Additive Manufacturing; AlSi10Mg; Annealing; Compressive Strength; Residual Stress; Selective Laser Melting; Compressive Strength; Annealing; AlSi10Mg; SLM; Residual Stress; Additive Manufacturing; SEM; LBPB; Selective Laser Melting; EDM
• ISSN: 2214-7853; 2214-7853
• DOI: 10.1016/j.matpr.2022.08.526

AlSi10Mg has been widely adopted for manufacture via Selective Laser Melting (SLM) or Laser Beam Powder Bed Fusion (LBPB) process, as it possesses superior mechanical properties as compared with conventional cast method. However, residual stresses in the manufactured part are an inevitable by-product of the SLM process, and post-processing such as heat treatment is commonly used to relieve the stresses. A common heat treatment method for SLM manufactured AlSi10Mg requires the specimen to be heated up to 300 °C. This treatment temperature is capable of relieving residual stresses but also reduces the mechanical strength at the same time. This paper presents an investigation of the effect of different heat treatment temperatures on the compressive mechanical strength of AlSi10Mg manufactured by SLM. It was found that the deterioration of mechanical strength of AlSi10Mg occurs abruptly over a temperature range between 294 °C and 300 °C and is supported by microstructural observation from Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM).