Mechanical properties and microstructure of AlSi10Mg alloy obtained by casting and SLM technique

Selective laser melting (SLM) techniques are gaining popularity recently. Due to increasing requirements of the manufacturing industry regarding cost production reduction, methods based on additive manufacturing (AM) are more and more attractive. SLM method allows fabricating parts with minimum post-processing machining requirements. Considering the above, this technique is applied mainly in aviation, automotive industry and medicine. Manufacturing parts by SLM method demands strictly defined parameters in particular when using aluminium alloys, due to high risk of porosity. The aim of research was to evaluate the possibility of replacing traditional casting of small-lot details by novel SLM method in specified manufacturing conditions. This study contains comparison of chosen physical and mechanical properties of AlSi10Mg alloy obtained by SLM method and by casting. As-received as well as heat treated (T6 heat treatment) materials were examined. Both types of the billets were subjected to hardness, tensile and Charpy impact tests, before and after T6 heat treatment. For SLM material relative density was also specified. Microstructure of cast and SLM samples was analyzed using light microscopy. The results of the research lead to conclusion, that the key aspect is the appropriate selection of parameters of manufacturing of the parts by SLM method.