Earticle

This study examines the effects of additive manufacturing (AM) orientations and support structures on the compressive strength of lattice structures. Test specimens were fabricated using a selective laser melting (SLM) process with AlSi10Mg material under three conditions: horizontally aligned (0°), tilted at 45°, and supported. Compression tests were conducted using a universal testing machine (UTM) and Digital Image Correlation (DIC) to evaluate mechanical behavior. The results showed that the supported horizontal specimens exhibited the highest compressive strength, while the 45° tilted specimens had the lowest due to interlayer separation and localized failures. The findings highlight the significance of build orientation and support design in optimizing AM lattice structures. Future research should explore various lattice configurations, material selections, and post-processing effects to further enhance structural performance.

The application spectrum of low cost material reinforced metal matrix composites is growing rapidly in various engineering fields due to their superior mechanical properties. In the present study aluminium alloy (AlSi10Mg) is reinforced with locally available inexpensive rice husk ash(RHA) and fly ash(FA) for developing a new hybrid composite material. A rice husk ash and fly ash particles of 5, 10 and 15% each by weight are added to develop metal matrix composites using liquid metal processing route. The surface morphology was studied using scanning electron microscope. The mechanical properties such as tensile strength, hardness and percentage elongations were studied for the all test specimens.

Aluminum (Al) - based powders have attracted attention as key materials for 3D printing because of their excellent specific mechanical strength, formability, and durability. Although many studies on the fabrication of 3Dprinted Al-based alloys have been reported, the influence of the size of raw powder materials on the bulk samples processed by selective laser melting (SLM) has not been fully investigated. In this study, AlSi10Mg powders of 65 μm in average particle size, prepared by a gas atomizing process, are additively manufactured by using an SLM process. AlSi10Mg powders of 45 μm average size are also fabricated into bulk samples in order to compare their properties. The processing parameters of laser power and scan speed are optimized to achieve densified AlSi10Mg alloys. The Vickers hardness value of the bulk sample prepared from 45 μm-sized powders is somewhat higher than that of the 65 μm-sized powder. Such differences in hardness are analyzed because the reduction in melt pool size stems from the rapid melting and solidification of small powders, compared to those of coarse powders, during the SLM process. These results show that the size of the powder should be considered in order to achieve optimization of the SLM process.

In this study, AlSi10Mg alloy powders are synthesized using gas atomization and sieving processes for powder bed fusion (PBF) additive manufacturing. The effect of nozzle diameter (ø = 4.0, 4.5, 5.0 and 8.0 mm) on the gas atomization and sieving size on the properties of the prepared powder are investigated. As the nozzle diameter decreases, the size of the manufactured powder decreases, and the uniformity of the particle size distribution improves. Therefore, the ø 4.0 mm nozzle diameter yields powder with superior properties. Spherically shaped powders can be prepared at a scale suitable for the PBF process with a particle size distribution of 10-45 ㎛. The Hausner ratio value of the powder is measured to be 1.24. In addition, the yield fraction of the powder prepared in this study is 26.6%, which is higher than the previously reported value of 10-15%. These results indicate that the nozzle diameter and the post-sieve process simultaneously influence the shape of the prepared powder as well as the satellite powder on its surface.

In this study, AlSi10Mg alloy powders are synthesized using gas atomization and sieving processes for powder bed fusion (PBF) additive manufacturing. The effect of nozzle diameter (ø = 4.0, 4.5, 5.0 and 8.0 mm) on the gas atomization and sieving size on the properties of the prepared powder are investigated. As the nozzle diameter decreases, the size of the manufactured powder decreases, and the uniformity of the particle size distribution improves. Therefore, the ø 4.0 mm nozzle diameter yields powder with superior properties. Spherically shaped powders can be prepared at a scale suitable for the PBF process with a particle size distribution of 10?45 μm. The Hausner ratio value of the powder is measured to be 1.24. In addition, the yield fraction of the powder prepared in this study is 26.6%, which is higher than the previously reported value of 10?15%. These results indicate that the nozzle diameter and the post-sieve process simultaneously influence the shape of the prepared powder as well as the satellite powder on its surface.

In this study, AlSi10Mg powders with average diameters of 44 ㎛ are additively manufactured into bulk samples using a selective laser melting (SLM) process. Post-heat treatment to reduce residual stress in the as-synthesized sample is performed at different temperatures. From the results of a tensile test, as the heat-treatment temperature increases from 270 to 320℃, strength decreases while elongation significantly increases up to 13% at 320℃. The microstructures and tensile properties of the two heat-treated samples at 290 and 320℃, respectively, are characterized and compared to those of the as-synthesized samples. Interestingly, the Si-rich phases that network in the as-synthesized state are discontinuously separated, and the size of the particle-shaped Si phases becomes large and spherical as the heat-treatment temperature increases. Due to these morphological changes of Si-rich phases, the reduction in tensile strengths and increase in elongations, respectively, can be obtained by the post-heat treatment process. These results provide fundamental information for the practical applications of AlSi10Mg parts fabricated by SLM.

In this study, AlSi10Mg powders with average diameters of 44 μm are additively manufactured into bulk samples using a selective laser melting (SLM) process. Post-heat treatment to reduce residual stress in the as-synthesized sample is performed at different temperatures. From the results of a tensile test, as the heat-treatment temperature increases from 270 to 320oC, strength decreases while elongation significantly increases up to 13% at 320oC. The microstructures and tensile properties of the two heat-treated samples at 290 and 320oC, respectively, are characterized and compared to those of the as-synthesized samples. Interestingly, the Si-rich phases that network in the as-synthesized state are discontinuously separated, and the size of the particle-shaped Si phases becomes large and spherical as the heat-treatment temperature increases. Due to these morphological changes of Si-rich phases, the reduction in tensile strengths and increase in elongations, respectively, can be obtained by the post-heat treatment process. These results provide fundamental information for the practical applications of AlSi10Mg parts fabricated by SLM.

AlSi10Mg alloys are being actively studied through additive manufacturing for application in the automobile and aerospace industries because of their excellent mechanical properties. To obtain a consistently high quality product through additive manufacturing, studying the flowability and spreadability of the metal powder is necessary. AlSi10Mg powder easily forms an oxide film on the powder surface and has hydrophilic properties, making it vulnerable to moisture. Therefore, in this study, AlSi10Mg powder was hydrophobically modified through silane surface treatment to improve the flowability and spreadability by reducing the effects of moisture. The improved flowability according to the number of silane surface treatments was confirmed using a Carney flowmeter. In addition, to confirm the effects of improved spreadability, the powder prior to surface treatment and that subjected to surface treatment four times were measured and compared using s self-designed recoating tester. The results of this study confirmed the improved flowability and spreadability based on the modified metal powder from hydrophilic to hydrophobic for obtaining a highquality additive manufacturing product.

In this study, machine learning models are proposed to predict the Vickers hardness of AlSi10Mg alloys fabricated by laser powder bed fusion (LPBF). A total of 113 utilizable datasets were collected from the literature. The hyperparameters of the machine-learning models were adjusted to select an accurate predictive model. The random forest regression (RFR) model showed the best performance compared to support vector regression, artificial neural networks, and k-nearest neighbors. The variable importance and prediction mechanisms of the RFR were discussed by Shapley additive explanation (SHAP). Aging time had the greatest influence on the Vickers hardness, followed by solution time, solution temperature, layer thickness, scan speed, power, aging temperature, average particle size, and hatching distance. Detailed prediction mechanisms for RFR are analyzed using SHAP dependence plots.

Aluminum (Al) - based powders have attracted attention as key materials for 3D printing because of their excellent specific mechanical strength, formability, and durability. Although many studies on the fabrication of 3D-printed Al-based alloys have been reported, the influence of the size of raw powder materials on the bulk samples processed by selective laser melting (SLM) has not been fully investigated. In this study, AlSi10Mg powders of 65 ㎛ in average particle size, prepared by a gas atomizing process, are additively manufactured by using an SLM process. AlSi10Mg powders of 45 ㎛ average size are also fabricated into bulk samples in order to compare their properties. The processing parameters of laser power and scan speed are optimized to achieve densified AlSi10Mg alloys. The Vickers hardness value of the bulk sample prepared from 45 ㎛-sized powders is somewhat higher than that of the 65 ㎛m-sized powder. Such differences in hardness are analyzed because the reduction in melt pool size stems from the rapid melting and solidification of small powders, compared to those of coarse powders, during the SLM process. These results show that the size of the powder should be considered in order to achieve optimization of the SLM process.

The AlSi10Mg alloy has garnered significant attention for its application in laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF), due to its lightweight properties and good printability using L-PBF. However, the low production speed of the L-PBF process is the main bottleneck in the industrial commercialization of L-PBF AlSi10Mg alloy parts. Furthermore, while L-PBF AlSi10Mg alloy exhibits excellent mechanical properties, the properties are often over-specified compared to the target properties of parts traditionally fabricated by casting. To accelerate production speed in L-PBF, this study investigated the effects of process parameters on the build rate and mechanical properties of the AlSi10Mg alloy. Guidelines are proposed for high-speed additive manufacturing of the AlSi10Mg alloy for use in automotive parts. The results show a significant increase in the build rate, exceeding the conventional build rate by a factor of 3.6 times or more, while the L-PBF AlSi10Mg alloy met the specifications for automotive prototype parts. This strategy can be expected to offer significant cost advantages while maintaining acceptable mechanical properties of topology-optimized parts used in the automobile industry.