TY - JOUR

T1 - Advancements in metal additive manufacturing

T2 - In-situ heat treatment of aluminium alloys during the laser powder bed fusion process

AU - Schimbäck, David

AU - Kaserer, Lukas

AU - Mair, Philipp

AU - Mohebbi, M.S.

AU - Staron, Peter

AU - Maier-Kiener, Verena

AU - Letofsky-Papst, Ilse

AU - Kremmer, Thomas

AU - Palm, Frank

AU - Montes, I.

AU - Höppel, Heinz Werner

AU - Leichtfried, Gerhard J.

AU - Pogatscher, Stefan

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2024 The Authors

PY - 2024/7

Y1 - 2024/7

N2 - The high design freedom of laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) additive manufacturing enables new integrated structures, which in turn demand advances in the process conditions and material design to exploit the full potential of this process. A computational multi-scale thermal simulation and metallurgical analysis of the aluminium alloy Scalmalloy® were used to develop and present a specific process window to enable an in-situ heat treatment during LPBF. High resolution analysis and synchrotron experiments on specimens manufactured in this process window revealed a major proportion of nano-sized Al 3(Sc xZr 1−x) solute-clusters were already present in the as-built state, as predicted by simulation. Supported by this experimental research, the new processing concept of in-situ heat treatment yielded the highest recorded strength values combined with high ductility directly after LPBF for Scalmalloy®. This advancement in LPBF enables highly complex, thin-walled structures directly made from a high-strength, lightweight material, which is not possible with conventional processes that require a subsequent heat treatment cycle.

AB - The high design freedom of laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) additive manufacturing enables new integrated structures, which in turn demand advances in the process conditions and material design to exploit the full potential of this process. A computational multi-scale thermal simulation and metallurgical analysis of the aluminium alloy Scalmalloy® were used to develop and present a specific process window to enable an in-situ heat treatment during LPBF. High resolution analysis and synchrotron experiments on specimens manufactured in this process window revealed a major proportion of nano-sized Al 3(Sc xZr 1−x) solute-clusters were already present in the as-built state, as predicted by simulation. Supported by this experimental research, the new processing concept of in-situ heat treatment yielded the highest recorded strength values combined with high ductility directly after LPBF for Scalmalloy®. This advancement in LPBF enables highly complex, thin-walled structures directly made from a high-strength, lightweight material, which is not possible with conventional processes that require a subsequent heat treatment cycle.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85194421353&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.msea.2024.146102

DO - 10.1016/j.msea.2024.146102

M3 - Article

VL - 905.2024

JO - Materials science and engineering: A, Structural materials: properties, microstructure and processing

JF - Materials science and engineering: A, Structural materials: properties, microstructure and processing

SN - 0921-5093

IS - July

M1 - 146102

ER -