Metallurgical and Mechanical Characteristics of an AA5183 Alloy Plate Performed by a Cold Metal Low-Power Additive Manufacturing Technology

Abstract

In this work, an AA5183 alloy plate was successfully deposited by low-power cold metal transfer technology. The forming defects, microstructural characteristics, and mechanical properties were investigated. The results show that the number of defects increases gradually along the building direction of the deposited plate. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, electron probe microanalysis, electron backscatter diffraction, and transmission electron microscopy were employed to study the distribution of alloying elements, deposited microstructural characteristics, and the crystal structure of intermetallic compounds in the Al alloy plate. The tensile samples perpendicular to the building direction presented greater tensile strength and superior plasticity compared to those parallel to the deposition direction. The average UTS was 327 ± 0.65 MPa and the average EL was 30.6 ± 2.0%. The UTS of conventionally forged 5083-H32 (Al-Mg4.5) alloy is 324 MPa; the UTS of extruded 5083-H116 (Al-Mg4.5) alloy is 305 MPa. Further, the strength of our prepared plate reaches the value needed for industrial applications of the 5083 Al alloy. The differences in the strength and plasticity of the samples assessed under multiple sampling methods were analyzed based on a synergistic strength–ductility mechanism.