Controllable tensile performance of additively manufactured Al–Fe alloy

Abstract

Achieving both high strength and ductility is challenging in additive manufacturing of Al alloys using the laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) process by altering the laser conditions to control the microstructural characteristics. The current work focuses on the influence of varying laser energy density (ED), which is adjusted by different sets of laser power (P) and scan speed (v), on the microstructure-tensile property relationships of the L-PBF-fabricated Al–2.5%Fe alloy under varying laser conditions (P = 204–230 W, v = 450–600 mm/s) with a fixed powder layer thickness (t = 30 μm) and hatch distance (h = 30 μm). With increasing ED (= P/v·t·h), a slight increase in the average size of the columnar α-Al grains was found in the experimental samples concurrently with a higher fraction of <001>-oriented grains. Nanosized particles of the Al6Fe phase with an increased tendency to interconnect were observed in the matrix inside the melt pool, and the θ phase formed within the submicron-sized cellular structure along the melt pool boundaries (MPBs). A low tensile ductility, induced by the local microstructural inhomogeneities across MPBs, was found in all specimens tensile-deformed along the building direction, which was characterized by a preference fracture along the MPBs. At higher applied ED, the tensile ductility of the experimental Al–2.5Fe alloy was significantly improved with only a slight decrease in tensile strength. The difference in concentration of Fe across the MPBs in the matrix was also moderately diminished, which is consistent with the reduced local difference in microhardness across the MPBs under higher ED conditions. Therefore, the present results demonstrate that local microstructural inhomogeneities across MPBs can be controlled by the laser conditions, thereby producing both high strength and good ductility in the L-PBF processed Al–Fe alloys.