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Rapid Solidification: Selective Laser Melting of AlSi10Mg

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Abstract

Rapid movement of the melt pool (at a speed around 1 m/s) in selective laser melting of metal powder directly implies rapid solidification. In this work, the length scale of the as-built microstructure of parts built with the alloy AlSi10Mg was measured and compared with the well-known relationship between cell size and cooling rate. Cooling rates during solidification were estimated using the Rosenthal equation. It was found that the solidification structure is the expected cellular combination of silicon with α-aluminum. The dependence of measured cell spacing on calculated cooling rate follows the well-established relationship for aluminum alloys. The implication is that cell spacing can be manipulated by changing the heat input. Microscopy of polished sections through particles of the metal powder used to build the parts showed that the particles have a dendritic-eutectic structure; the dendrite arm spacings in metal powder particles of different diameters were measured and also agree with literature correlations, showing the expected increase in secondary dendrite arm spacing with increasing particle diameter.

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Acknowledgement

This material is based on research sponsored by Air Force Research Laboratory under Agreement Number FA8650-12-2-7230 and by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, acting through the Department of Community and Economic Development, under Contract Number C000053981. The U.S. Government is authorized to reproduce and distribute reprints for Governmental purposes notwithstanding any copyright notation thereon. Any opinions, views, findings, recommendations, and conclusions contained herein are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies or endorsements, either expressed or implied, of the Air Force Research Laboratory, the U.S. Government, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Carnegie Mellon University, or Lehigh University. The assistance and support of Alcoa is gratefully acknowledged

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Ming Tang & P. Chris Pistorius

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Sneha Narra & Jack L. Beuth

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  1. Ming Tang
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  2. P. Chris Pistorius
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  3. Sneha Narra
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  4. Jack L. Beuth
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Correspondence to P. Chris Pistorius.

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Tang, M., Pistorius, P.C., Narra, S. et al. Rapid Solidification: Selective Laser Melting of AlSi10Mg. JOM 68, 960–966 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11837-015-1763-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11837-015-1763-3

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