Unraveling microforging principle during in situ shot-peening-assisted cold spray additive manufacturing aluminum alloy through a multi-physics framework

• Published in: Materials & design Vol. 236; p. 112451
• Main Authors: Wang, Qian, Ma, Ninshu, Shi, Junmiao, Huang, Wenjia, Luo, Xiao-Tao, Geng, Peihao, Zhang, Mingxing, Zhang, Xian-Cheng, Li, Chang-Jiu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 01.12.2023
• Subjects: Additive manufacturing; Cold spray; Extreme deformation; Grain refinement; Microforging
• ISSN: 0264-1275
• DOI: 10.1016/j.matdes.2023.112451

Cold spray (CS) is a highly potential solid-state additive manufacturing (AM) technique. In situ shot-peening-assisted CSAM was proposed to additively manufacture fully dense deposits using cost-effective and renewable nitrogen gas. The role of in situ shot-peening particles is critical but remains unclear. Here, the process was quantitatively modeled to visualize the dynamic deformation, energy conversion, as well as cell/sub-grain size and microhardness evolutions, compared to those during the conventional CSAM process, identifying the key role of in situ shot-peening particles in the AA6061 extreme deformation and microstructure characteristics during in situ shot-peening-assisted CSAM. High-fidelity modeling was verified fully by comparing the experimental and model-reproduced deformation profiles, cell/sub-grain size distributions, and increases in microhardness. The results show that the kinetic energy of in situ shot-peening particles was 470 times higher and dissipated mainly through AA6061 plastic deformation (86.36% of total energy), leading to significant enhancement of microhardness and tensile strength. Moreover, the mixing ratio of large-size SS410 particles required to create a fully dense deposit was evaluated from an energy perspective, in good agreement with the experiment. This study elucidates the microforging principle during in situ shot-peening-assisted CSAM, providing scientific guidelines for high-quality and low-cost CSAM of high-strength aluminum alloys.