Comparison of Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Aluminum Components Manufactured by CMT

Abstract

This paper presents an investigation on the microstructure and mechanical property of Al-alloy parts made by using additive manufacturing based on CMT (Cold Metal Transfer) welding technology. With the same 3D model and process parameters, a set of hollow cylindrical parts with 100 layers were built up using 2319, 4043, 5356 aluminum welding wires, respectively. Then their microstructure, tensile strength, and microhardness were tested and analyzed comparatively. The layer bands characteristics were obviously observed in both 2319 and 4043 parts. In the interlayer region of the 2319 parts, the segregation of alloying elements on the grain boundaries and inside the grains were significantly more than that in the fusion line region. For the microstructure of 4043 parts, the dendrites grow upward from the bottom without interruption in the fusion line region, and the continuous growth structure was maintained. There is no obviously change on the microhardness from the bottom to the top because the organization is uniform and there is no significant difference in the grain size. The ultimate strength and elongation in the horizontal direction were higher than those in the longitudinal direction, and the 5356 parts had best mechanical properties among the three materials. Ultrasonic method was also used to measure the Young's modulus of the additive manufactured parts. The Young's modulus measuring results were accordant with the results obtained by the mechanical property testing, and the error was within 3%.