Influence of the LPBF Process Parameters on the Porosity of the AlSi10Mg Alloy

Abstract

Laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) process has a great ability to produce complex AlSi10Mg 3D components with uncommon degrees of freedom for broad span of applications in different industries. Presence of the microstructural imperfections such as porosity, dependent on the parameters of the process can be detrimental to the printed products for different engineering applications. Parameters of the process and different post-processing heat and surface treatments are recognized for decrease of the occurrence of microstructural defects and for the improvement of the mechanical properties. The influence of laser power by applying four different laser speeds at one layer thickness with a constant hatch distance, on the microstructure and microhardness of the AlSi10Mg alloy was examined in this paper. The goal of the research was to determine whether increasing the laser speed will have a significant impact on the change in microstructure and the appearance of porosity in the tested samples.

Keywords

• additive manufacturing
• AlSi10Mg
• microstructure
• microhardness
• porosity
• process parameters