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High-strength aluminum alloy powders for Selective Laser Melting
A new aluminum alloy meeting typical mechanical and physical requirement profiles of relevant industries and being reliably processable by Selective Laser Melting (SLM), should be developed.
Currently available aluminum alloys for additive manufacturing are not able to meet all the requirements for high strength, low cost, good workability, and sustainable raw material sources, because they are either adapted from the casting sector (e.g., AlSi10Mg), and/or too expensive due to the use of non-sustainable elements (e.g. Scandium in Scalmalloy). In an ongoing PhD project, a new aluminum alloy shall be developed, meeting typical mechanical and physical requirement profiles of relevant industries and being reliably processable by Selective Laser Melting (SLM).
To reach this goal, the new alloy should contain a combination of alloying elements able to create a fine microstructure with coherent strengthening precipitates stable upon a wide range of temperatures. The compositions to analyze will be of the type Al-M-X, where M is a transition metal of the group IV (Ti, Zr) and X is a transition metal of the 4th period from Cr to Zn.
The aim of this work is therefore to first prepare master alloys with suitable alloying elements, bring it into a suitable shape for atomization, e.g. by casting , and produce powders by ultrasonic atomization, a novel manufacturing technique able to create fine and spherical particles. Material characterization will be then carried out, including microscopy analyses (SEM ), XRD, and DSC .
Currently available aluminum alloys for additive manufacturing are not able to meet all the requirements for high strength, low cost, good workability, and sustainable raw material sources, because they are either adapted from the casting sector (e.g., AlSi10Mg), and/or too expensive due to the use of non-sustainable elements (e.g. Scandium in Scalmalloy). In an ongoing PhD project, a new aluminum alloy shall be developed, meeting typical mechanical and physical requirement profiles of relevant industries and being reliably processable by Selective Laser Melting (SLM). To reach this goal, the new alloy should contain a combination of alloying elements able to create a fine microstructure with coherent strengthening precipitates stable upon a wide range of temperatures. The compositions to analyze will be of the type Al-M-X, where M is a transition metal of the group IV (Ti, Zr) and X is a transition metal of the 4th period from Cr to Zn. The aim of this work is therefore to first prepare master alloys with suitable alloying elements, bring it into a suitable shape for atomization, e.g. by casting , and produce powders by ultrasonic atomization, a novel manufacturing technique able to create fine and spherical particles. Material characterization will be then carried out, including microscopy analyses (SEM ), XRD, and DSC .
Work packages
- WP 1: Literature research and definition of the suitable alloy elements
- WP 2: Master alloy manufacturing and shaping
- WP 3: Powder making by ultrasonic atomization
- WP 4: Material characterization and analyses
- WP 5: Writing of the report
Work packages
- WP 1: Literature research and definition of the suitable alloy elements - WP 2: Master alloy manufacturing and shaping - WP 3: Powder making by ultrasonic atomization - WP 4: Material characterization and analyses - WP 5: Writing of the report