On the Damping Performance and Mechanical Response of Additive-Manufactured and Thermo-Mechanical Processed AlSiMg Alloy

Recent advancements in additive manufacturing (AM) fuel efforts for expanding the design envelopes for components obtained via this technology through continuous improvement in mechanical behavior. Damping properties can also be altered depending on the microstructure evolved during AM. Therefore, achieving enhanced monotonic mechanical response with better damping properties is highly sought-after. In this respect, thermo-mechanical processing via severe plastic deformation (SPD) and artificial aging is imparted on the additive-manufactured samples with the target of grain refinement and densification to further improve mechanical and damping properties. Employing microstructural characterizations and mechanical experiments, a multi-scale exploration is carried out to develop a relation between the evolved microstructure and the resulting behavior. It is concluded that introducing a refined microstructure decorated with well-distributed (Mg,Si)-rich phase and favorable dislocation substructure in AlSi10Mg positively affects the resulting mechanical behavior. Moreover, it is shown that artificial aging can be employed to improve the damping characteristics of severely deformed additive-manufactured AlSi10Mg alloy.

Graphical Abstract