Study on the Selective Laser Melting of AlSi10Mg

The growing interest for a wide range of usable Al alloy parts with complex shape in industrial field makes selective laser melting (SLM) stand out as a new technology for rapid prototyping manufacturing. The objective of this work is to investigate AlSi10Mg cast aluminum alloy manufacturing by SLM. The investigation involved the influence of process parameters on the relative density and the influence of heat treatment on the microstructure and mechanical properties. High density and performance were achieved. The results show that the tensile strength of the SLMed AlSi10Mg is much higher than that of press wrought AlSi10Mg, but the elongation is as almost same as that of the press wrought AlSi10Mg. The heat treatment has a significant effect on the mechanical properties and microstructure of SLMed AlSi10Mg parts. The mechanical properties changes with the annealing temperature. Compared with the mechanical properties without annealing process, the tensile strength decreases from 507-518 MPa to 378-406 MPa and the elongation increases from 3.0%similar to 3.5% to 6.5%similar to 9.0% when the annealing temperature is 300. and the holding time is 2 h because of the changes in the morphology and distribution of the Si.