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Acta Metall Sin  2021, Vol. 57 Issue (5): 613-622    DOI: 10.11900/0412.1961.2020.00253
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Effects of Heat Treatments on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of AlSi10Mg Alloy Produced by Selective Laser Melting
WANG Yue1,2, WANG Jijie1, ZHANG Hao2, ZHAO Hongbo2, NI Dingrui2(), XIAO Bolv2, MA Zongyi2
1.College of Materials Science and Engineering, Shenyang Aerospace University, Shenyang 110136, China
2.Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China
Cite this article: 

WANG Yue, WANG Jijie, ZHANG Hao, ZHAO Hongbo, NI Dingrui, XIAO Bolv, MA Zongyi. Effects of Heat Treatments on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of AlSi10Mg Alloy Produced by Selective Laser Melting. Acta Metall Sin, 2021, 57(5): 613-622.

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Abstract  

The urgent need for lightweight, high-accuracy, and personalized products has led to the rapid development of additive manufacturing. Selective laser melting (SLM), which is a very promising additive manufacturing technique, has attracted remarkable attention. The mechanical properties of SLM parts are highly related to the formation of pores and cracks. In this work, SLM parameters for AlSi10Mg alloy were optimized, and the SLM AlSi10Mg sample with a high relative density of 99.63% was obtained. The SLM sample exhibited good properties, including an ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of approximately 478 MPa, a total elongation of 8%, and an average hardness of 122 HV along the horizontal direction. However, due to a high cooling rate, an inhomogeneous microstructure with refined grains and a Si network was obtained. To achieve a homogeneous microstructure and further improve the elongation of the SLM samples, the effect of heat treatments on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the SLM samples along the horizontal direction was analyzed. After the heat treatments, the strength of the samples changed significantly and the elongation was significantly improved. Further, after a solid solution treatment at 540oC for 1 h, the UTS significantly decreased to approximately 246 MPa and the elongation increased to more than 22%. For the sample annealed at 236oC for 10 h, a UTS of approximately 368 MPa and elongation of approximately 17% were obtained. Moreover, the sample subjected to ageing at 130oC for 4 h exhibited a high strength similar to the level of the SLM sample, the elongation was increased to approximately 11.9%, and the hardness was approximately 133 HV which is 10% higher than that of the SLM sample. The improved performance of the aged samples can be attributed to the combination of solution strengthening, microstructural refinement, and precipitation strengthening. The results show that low-temperature ageing is the optimized heat-treatment method for SLM samples with fine microstructures.

Key words:  additive manufacturing      selective laser melting      AlSi10Mg alloy      heat treatment      mechanical property     
Received:  13 July 2020     
ZTFLH:  TG146.2  
Fund: National Key Research and Development Program of China(2017YFB0703104);Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
About author:  NI Dingrui, professor, Tel: (024)23971749, E-mail: drni@imr.ac.cn

URL: 

https://www.ams.org.cn/EN/10.11900/0412.1961.2020.00253     OR     https://www.ams.org.cn/EN/Y2021/V57/I5/613

Fig.1  SEM images of AlSi10Mg powders for selective laser melting (SLM)
Heat treatmentParameter
SLMNo heat treatment
Ageing130oC, 4 h, air cooling
Annealing236oC, 10 h, water quenching
Annealing + ageing236oC, 10 h, water quenching + 130oC, 4 h, air cooling
Solid solution540oC, 1 h, water quenching
T6540oC, 1 h, water quenching + 130oC, 4 h, air cooling
Table 1  Heat treatments for SLM AlSi10Mg alloy
Fig.2  Samples for tensile tests (along the horizontal direction) (unit: mm)
Fig.3  Effect of scanning speed and linear energy on macroscopic morphology (laser power P = 275 W) (a-c) and density (d) of SLM samples
Fig.4  OM images of horizontal (a) and vertical (b) sections of the optimized SLM sample and SEM images corresponding to the two directions (c, d) (HAZ—hot affected zone)
Fig.5  XRD spectra (a) and EDS results (b) of AlSi10Mg SLM sample
Fig.6  Mechanical properties of SLM AlSi10Mg samples reported in last five years
Fig.7  OM (a-c) and SEM (d-f) images of microstructures of aged (a, d), annealed + aged (b, e), and T6-treated (c, f) SLM samples (Inset in Fig.7f shows the long needle-like AlFeSi-β phase)
Fig.8  Engineering stress-strain curves of SLM samples after different heat treatments
Fig.9  Average microhardnesses of SLM and aged samples
Fig.10  Tensile fracture morphologies of aged (a, e), annealed+aged (b, f), solution-treated (c, g), and T6-treated (d, h) SLM samples (Dotted line zones show defects within the solution-treated and T6-treated samples, inset in Fig.10h is pore defect, which has negative effect on tensile properties)
Fig.11  TEM images of as-printed sample (a), precipitates of aged sample (b), Si precipitates with different shapes of aged sample (c), and interface of rod Si precipitates of aged sample (d) (Inset in Fig.11b shows Mg2Si precipitates)
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